48: Wikipedia w/ Annie Rauwerda, The First Boring Number, and Perpetual Stew
Sep 28, 2023
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Annie Rauwerda discusses the history of Wikipedia and the concept of boring numbers. They explore the evolution of encyclopedias, the limitations of the Wikipedia interface, and the enduring impact of Wikipedia. They also delve into the controversy of editing a Wikipedia page and share their experience of creating a perpetual stew.
Wikipedia's origin story reveals its transformation from a failed pornographic web ring to a user-edited, free encyclopedia.
The concept of the first boring number (268) highlights the psychology and sociology surrounding numbers and their perceived significance.
The podcast emphasizes the reliability and challenges of Wikipedia, showcasing its vast knowledge and value as a resource in the digital age.
Deep dives
The Origins of Wikipedia and the Birth of the First Boring Number
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, started as a web ring called Newpedia, which featured subscription-based soft-core pornography. However, Newpedia failed to gain traction. Out of desperation, Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger decided to create a free encyclopedia called Wikipedia, where anyone could edit the content. In its early days, Wikipedia saw rapid growth as people enjoyed contributing articles. However, the content lacked depth and had biases, with a focus on certain topics. Spanish Wikipedia even split from the main project due to concerns of potential advertisement. Despite financial struggles, Wikipedia managed to survive with an influx of donations, leading to its continued success and establishment as a nonprofit foundation. Through the years, Wikipedia has expanded in various languages and remained committed to the idea of free knowledge. Currently, it faces challenges related to AI usage and disinformation, prompting discussions to ensure the accuracy and credibility of its content.
The First Boring Number: 268
The first boring number, or the lowest positive integer without a Wikipedia article, is believed to be 268. The concept of boring numbers relates to their lack of specific mathematical or cultural significance. While this number may appear uninteresting, it attains a level of curiosity due to its classification as the first number lacking a dedicated page on Wikipedia. The criteria for determining a boring number involve factors beyond mere mathematical properties, such as cultural biases. The existence of boring numbers sparks discussions on the psychology and sociology surrounding numbers and their perceived significance.
The Fascinating World of Wikipedia
The podcast episode delves into the world of Wikipedia, exploring its origins and the unique concept of a user-edited online encyclopedia. The episode discusses the reliability of Wikipedia as a source of information and highlights the vast amount of knowledge available on the platform. It also touches on the challenges faced by Wikipedia editors, including biases and disputes over content. The episode concludes by highlighting the importance of Wikipedia as a valuable resource in today's digital age.
The Paradox of Interesting Numbers
The podcast explores the concept of interesting numbers and the peculiar gap that separates popular numbers from boring ones, known as Sloane's gap. It discusses how mathematicians tend to focus on popular numbers when developing proofs or series of numbers, leading to a human bias in mathematical sequences. The podcast also delves into the intriguing discoveries made through the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS) and how it contributes to the understanding of mathematical patterns.
Annie's Perpetual Stew
In a humorous and sociable endeavor, Annie shares her experience with a perpetual stew, a simmering dish that is continuously cooked over a long period of time. She explains the origins of the perpetual stew concept and how she maintained a crockpot stew for two months. Annie shares anecdotes about the stew's impact, including contributions from friends and even romantic connections that blossomed during the stew gatherings. The episode also touches on the challenges and attention received amid media coverage and regulatory concerns.
We all use Wikipedia, but how did it come to be? What's the first number to not have a Wikipedia page, and what does that say about math and humans? And what on Earth is Perpetual Stew?
Timestamps: (00:00:00) Intro (00:07:33) The History of Wikipedia (00:50:16) The First Boring Number (01:12:09) Wikimania and Perpetual Stew (01:50:38) Outro
We also learn about: there’s more Wikipedia languages than google translate, Grendel would have loved Blackpink, how often do we think about the roman empire, the first encyclopedia was very wrong, all men think about is present Rome! Pliny’s child piss ab wrinkle cure, fortune did not favor the bold according to Pliny the younger, the encyclopedia Britannica, getting lazy on the later letter installments, door to door encyclopedia salesmen, Annie’s Mom’s excitement for the new encyclopedia, Encarta the forgotten digital encyclopedia, welcome to the 90s baby, webrings, soft core porn is the carcinization of the web, Jimmy Wale’s “Guy Oriented Search Engine” Bomis.com, the failed boring Nupedia, the wiki prefix from a Hawaiian bus, Cunningham’s Law, Wikipedia’s Bro culture, nostalgia.wikipedia.com, no search or sources on old wikipedia, it’s not easy but people were making this encyclopedia, this human element has always been a part of encyclopedias, Jimmy Wales got his admin privilages revoked by the community, the interesting number paradox, Ramanujan’s Taxi Cab Numbers, the OEIS sequence database, Sloane’s Gap, 20,067 sitting alone at lunch, a surprising recent number update, the notability standard of numbers, the highest negative number to not have a page is only negative 3!!! come to the dark side of the zero, the Wikimania, Annie is Taylor Swift at Wikimania, Ella’s years long Wikipedia War, Annie’s neuroscience journey, Annie’s Perpetual Stew, a stew love.
