Last week I discovered something remarkable, entertaining and mildly amusing.
Go to a random article on Wikipedia and keep clicking the first link in every article. 97% of the time, you’ll end up at the Philosophy page (or Philosophy of Language).
With this brand new information I went on to impress three others with my new found knowledge – to which each person was moderatately impressed.
The thing is – this information isn’t new. In fact there are articles on Wikipedia itself dating back to 2008 discussing this phenomenon.
What intrigues me most is how, despite its documentation as internet lore, I was entirely unaware of it.
An Instagram video introduced me to the idea, and for all I knew, the creator was its discoverer.
We often assume that what we know is common knowledge. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
I’m a big believer in the idea that anyone can be a teacher and that you only have to be one-step ahead of your pupil to teach.
Curiosities like ‘Getting to Philosophy’ serve as excellent reminders of this. They challenge the myth that knowledge is universally shared and highlight the joy of learning something new, no matter how old or obscure it might be.
What seems like old news to you may be a wonderful discovery for someone else.
If it is of interest to you, share it with someone.
