A Java command line app which, given a valid Wikipedia.org article URL, will tell you how many first-link clicks that article is from wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy.
~95% percent of English-language Wikipedia articles eventually link through to the Philosophy article.
As the Wikipedia article on “Wikipedia: Getting to Philosophy” explains, the Wikipedia Manual of Style recommends that each article should start by defining the topic of the article. This creates a likelihood that the first link will lead to a broader subject, eventually leading to the broadest of all subjects, philosophy. It’s cited that as of May 2011, 94.52% of articles lead to Philosophy. The median number of clicks is just 23.
To try it out in your browser, pick any article and follow the first link from each subsequent article. A first link is defined as the first link in the body of the article that is:
- Non-parenthesized
- Non-italicized
- Not external
- Not the current page
- Not a "red link" (non-existent entry)
http://ramonaharrison.github.io/accesscode/java/http/wikipedia/2015/03/27/wikipedia-philosophy/