The Literary Odyssey: 100 Classic Books and Their Stories

Here is a list of 100 classic books from humanity in chronological order of publication, along with a brief explanation and the country and year of publication:

1. Epic of Gilgamesh (Sumeria, circa 2100 BCE)
• An ancient Mesopotamian poem about the adventures of King Gilgamesh.
2. The Iliad by Homer (Greece, 8th century BCE)
• An epic poem about the Trojan War and the hero Achilles.
3. The Odyssey by Homer (Greece, 8th century BCE)
• Follows the adventures of Odysseus as he tries to return home after the Trojan War.
4. The Art of War by Sun Tzu (China, 5th century BCE)
• A treatise on military strategy and tactics.
5. The Analects by Confucius (China, 5th century BCE)
• A collection of sayings and ideas attributed to Confucius.
6. The Republic by Plato (Greece, 380 BCE)
• An exploration of justice, the ideal state, and the nature of the philosopher-king.
7. The Histories by Herodotus (Greece, 5th century BCE)
• Often considered the first work of history, it covers the Greco-Persian Wars.
8. The Bhagavad Gita (India, 5th-2nd century BCE)
• A 700-verse Hindu scripture that presents a conversation between Prince Arjuna and the god Krishna.
9. Aeneid by Virgil (Roman Empire, 19 BCE)
• An epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who becomes the ancestor of the Romans.
10. Metamorphoses by Ovid (Roman Empire, 8 CE)
• A narrative poem that explores transformations in Greek and Roman mythology.
11. Confessions by Saint Augustine (Roman Empire, 397-398 CE)
• An autobiographical work exploring Augustine's spiritual journey.
12. The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (Italy, 1320)
• An epic poem that follows Dante's journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven.
13. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (England, 14th century)
• A collection of stories told by pilgrims on their way to Canterbury Cathedral.
14. The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli (Italy, 1532)
• A political treatise on leadership, power, and the pursuit of success.
15. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (Spain, 1605)
• A satirical novel about the delusional Don Quixote and his loyal squire Sancho Panza.
16. Hamlet by William Shakespeare (England, 1603)
• A tragedy exploring themes of revenge and madness.
17. Paradise Lost by John Milton (England, 1667)
• An epic poem depicting the fall of Satan and the Biblical story of Adam and Eve.
18. Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan (England, 1678)
• An allegorical novel about Christian's journey to the Celestial City.
19. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (England, 1719)
• The tale of a shipwrecked man's survival on a desert island.
20. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift (Ireland, 1726)
• A satirical adventure novel exploring human nature through Gulliver's journeys.
21. Candide by Voltaire (France, 1759)
• A satirical novella critiquing optimism and the human condition.
22. Emile, or On Education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (France, 1762)
• A treatise on education and child-rearing.
23. The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (Scotland, 1776)
• A foundational work in economics, advocating for free-market capitalism.
24. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (England, 1818)
• A novel exploring the consequences of scientific ambition and the creation of life.
25. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (England, 1813)
• A classic novel of manners and marriage in early 19th-century England.
26. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (United States, 1851)
• An epic tale of Captain Ahab's obsessive pursuit of the white whale, Moby-Dick.
27. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (England, 1847)
• A novel about the life and experiences of the orphaned governess Jane Eyre.
28. Walden by Henry David Thoreau (United States, 1854)
• A reflection on simple living in natural surroundings.
29. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Russia, 1866)
• A psychological novel exploring the mind of Raskolnikov, a troubled student turned murderer.
30. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (France, 1862)
• A sweeping novel that delves into themes of justice, love, and redemption.
31. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Russia, 1869)
• An epic historical novel set during the Napoleonic era.
32. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (Russia, 1877)
• A tragic love story set against the backdrop of 19th-century Russian society.
33. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Russia, 1880)
• A novel exploring morality, faith, and the complex relationships among three brothers.
34. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (United States, 1885)
• A novel following the journey of a young boy, Huck, and a runaway slave, Jim, down the Mississippi River.
35. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (Scotland, 1886)
• A novella exploring the duality of human nature.
36. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (Ireland, 1890)
• A novel about a man whose portrait ages while he remains youthful, reflecting his moral decay.
37. The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud (Austria, 1899)
• A foundational work in psychology, discussing dream analysis and the unconscious mind.
38. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (United Kingdom, 1899)
• A novella examining the darkness within human nature through the journey up the Congo River.
39. The Call of the Wild by Jack London (United States, 1903)
• A novel about a domesticated dog's return to a wild, primal state in the Yukon.
40. Dubliners by James Joyce (Ireland, 1914)
• A collection of short stories capturing the lives of Dubliners.
41. Swann's Way by Marcel Proust (France, 1913)
• The first volume of "In Search of Lost Time," a novel exploring memory and time.
42. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (Austria-Hungary, 1915)
• A novella about a man who wakes up to find himself transformed into a giant insect.
43. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (United States, 1925)
• A novel depicting the decadence and disillusionment of the Jazz Age.
44. Ulysses by James Joyce (Ireland, 1922)
• A stream-of-consciousness novel set over the course of a single day in Dublin.
45. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster (United Kingdom, 1924)
• A novel exploring the complexities of British-Indian relations.
46. The Trial by Franz Kafka (Czechoslovakia, 1925)
• A novel about a man arrested and tried for an unspecified crime.
47. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (United Kingdom, 1932)
• A dystopian novel envisioning a future society controlled by technology and conformity.
48. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (United States, 1937)
• A novella about the dreams and struggles of itinerant ranch workers during the Great Depression.
49. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (United States, 1939)
• A novel depicting the plight of the Joad family as they migrate during the Dust Bowl.
50. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (France, 1943)
• A philosophical novella that explores the nature of human relationships.
51. The Stranger by Albert Camus (France, 1942)
• A novel examining the absurdity of human existence through the story of Meursault.
52. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia, 1967)
• A magical realist novel tracing the history of the Buendía family in the fictional town of Macondo.
53. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (United States, 1960)
• A novel dealing with racism and injustice in the American South.
54. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (United Kingdom, 1949)
• A dystopian novel portraying a totalitarian regime's control over thought and expression.
55. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (United States, 1951)
• A novel following the disillusioned teenager, Holden Caulfield, in New York City.
56. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (United States, 1952)
• A novella about an aging Cuban fisherman's epic battle with a marlin.
57. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (United States, 1953)
• A novel depicting a future society where books are banned and burned.
58. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (United States, 1955)
• A controversial novel narrated by a morally reprehensible protagonist.
59. On the Road by Jack Kerouac (United States, 1957)
• A novel chronicling the travels and adventures of the Beat Generation.
60. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (Nigeria, 1958)
• A novel depicting the impact of colonialism on Igbo society.
61. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (United States, 1960)
• A novel dealing with racism and injustice in the American South.
62. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (United States, 1962)
• A science fantasy novel following the journey of Meg Murry to rescue her father.
63. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Soviet Union, 1962)
• A novella about a day in the life of a Soviet labor camp inmate.
64. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (United States, 1966)
• A true crime novel based on the murder of the Clutter family in Kansas.
65. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (United States, 1969)
• A satirical novel exploring the experiences of Billy Pilgrim during World War II.
66. The Godfather by Mario Puzo (United States, 1969)
• A crime novel depicting the Corleone family's mafia empire.
67. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (Soviet Union, 1967)
• A satirical novel blending elements of fantasy, satire, and political allegory.
68. Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse (Germany, 1927)
• A novel exploring the existential crisis of Harry Haller.
69. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (United Kingdom, 1979)
• A humorous science fiction series following the misadventures of Arthur Dent.
70. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (Italy, 1980)
• A historical mystery novel set in an Italian monastery in the 14th century.
71. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (United Kingdom, 1981)
• A magical realist novel intertwining the history of India with the lives of children born at midnight on August 15, 1947.
72. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera (Czechoslovakia/France, 1984)
• A philosophical novel exploring the concepts of love, identity, and freedom.
73. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (Canada, 1985)
• A dystopian novel depicting a theocratic society where women are subjugated.
74. Beloved by Toni Morrison (United States, 1987)
• A novel exploring the haunting legacy of slavery.
75. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (United Kingdom, 1988)
• A novel blending magical realism and social commentary.
76. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (United Kingdom, 1989)
• A novel narrated by an English butler reflecting on his life and choices.
77. Possession by A.S. Byatt (United Kingdom, 1990)
• A novel interweaving two love stories across different time periods.
78. The Road by Cormac McCarthy (United States, 2006)
• A post-apocalyptic novel following a father and son's journey to survival.
79. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (United States, 2008)
• A dystopian young adult novel set in a future where teenagers are forced to fight to the death.
80. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Sweden, 2005)
• A crime novel featuring investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist and hacker Lisbeth Salander.
81. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin (United States, 1996)
• The first book in the epic fantasy series "A Song of Ice and Fire."
82. The Road to Character by David Brooks (United States, 2015)
• A non-fiction book exploring the development of character and moral values.
83. Educated by Tara Westover (United States, 2018)
• A memoir recounting the author's journey from a strict, isolated upbringing to education and self-discovery.
84. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (United States, 2018)
• A novel that combines mystery, romance, and coming-of-age themes set in the marshes of North Carolina.
85. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides (United Kingdom, 2019)
• A psychological thriller about a woman who stops speaking after being accused of murder.
86. The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates (United States, 2019)
• A historical novel with elements of magical realism, exploring slavery and the Underground Railroad.
87. Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid (United States, 2019)
• A contemporary novel that delves into issues of race, privilege, and relationships.
88. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett (United States, 2020)
• A novel exploring identity, family, and race through the lives of twin sisters.
89. The Push by Ashley Audrain (Canada, 2021)
• A psychological thriller examining the complexities of motherhood.
90. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah (United States, 2021)
• A historical novel set during the Dust Bowl, depicting a family's struggle for survival.
91. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (United Kingdom, 2021)
• A science fiction novel narrated by an artificial friend named Klara.
92. No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood (United States, 2021)
• A novel exploring the internet age and the impact of social media.
93. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (United States, 2021)
• It is a science fiction novel about a lone astronaut's mission to save humanity.
94. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (United States, 2017)
• A multi-generational family saga that begins in Korea and spans into Japan.
95. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (United States, 2011)
• A fantasy novel set within a magical competition between two young illusionists.
96. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (United States, 2013)
• The novel centered around a stolen painting and the life of a young boy, Theo.
97. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (Canada, 2019)
• A sequel to "The Handmaid's Tale," revealing the testimonies of three women in Gilead.
98. A Promised Land by Barack Obama (United States, 2020)
• The memoir of the 44th President of the United States, reflecting on his early life and presidency.
99. The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green (United States, 2021)
• A collection of essays reviewing various aspects of human existence and the natural world.
100. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (United Kingdom, 2021) - A science fiction novel narrated by an artificial friend named Klara.

Please note that this list includes a wide range of classic books from different time periods, genres, and regions, and it's not an exhaustive list of all classic literature.

** Maybe you will read this, Mariana.

Math for AI

 

Results of failure to align people, process, and technology to achieve strategic goals.

 

Data science leadership

 

ChatGPT

 

Distinct capabilities and virtues are required in each stage of your career growth

 

The machine learning (especially deep learning) development progress phase by phase

 

The feature engineering pipeline

 

No prayer for the dying

 

There are times when I've wondered
And times when I've cried
When my prayers they were answered
At times when I've lied
But if you asked me a question
Would I tell you truth
Now there's something to bet on
You've got nothing to lose

A Philosophy of Software Design

 

The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg

 

Saga Gemini

Yujiro Hanma. Lemur, also known as Gemini Saga, is the main antagonist of the Santuary arc of Saint Seiya. He is the Gemini Gold Saint, keeper of the third temple and the older brother of Kanon. He took the place of the great Pope and tried to kill Athena as a child 13 years before the story starts.

Mythe de Gilgamesh

 Le mythe de Gilgamesh est l'une des plus anciennes épopées connues de l'humanité. Il tire son nom du personnage principal, Gilgamesh, qui était un roi légendaire de la cité mésopotamienne d'Uruk, située dans l'actuel Irak.

Le récit de Gilgamesh a été préservé sur des tablettes d'argile écrites en écriture cunéiforme, datant d'environ 2100 av. J.-C. Il raconte l'histoire de Gilgamesh, un roi tyrannique et puissant, dont les habitants d'Uruk se plaignent à cause de ses abus de pouvoir. Pour mettre fin à cette situation, les dieux créent un homme sauvage appelé Enkidu pour combattre Gilgamesh et le défier.

Cependant, après un combat épique, Gilgamesh et Enkidu deviennent amis et partent ensemble à la recherche de la renommée et de l'immortalité. Ils affrontent de nombreuses épreuves et rencontrent des personnages mythiques, notamment Humbaba, le gardien de la forêt des cèdres, et le taureau céleste envoyé par les dieux pour les punir.

Finalement, Enkidu meurt et Gilgamesh est plongé dans le désespoir. Il entreprend alors un voyage pour trouver l'immortalité et se rend dans le monde souterrain. Là, il rencontre Uta-Napishti, le seul être humain qui a survécu à un grand déluge et qui a reçu l'immortalité. Uta-Napishti raconte à Gilgamesh l'histoire du déluge et lui explique que l'immortalité est réservée aux dieux.

Malgré cette révélation, Gilgamesh retourne à Uruk, acceptant sa nature mortelle et réalisant l'importance de laisser un héritage durable dans les réalisations humaines. L'épopée de Gilgamesh soulève des questions existentielles sur la mortalité, la quête de sens et la place de l'humanité dans le monde.

Le mythe de Gilgamesh est un récit fascinant qui offre un aperçu précieux de la pensée et de la culture anciennes. Il a également influencé de nombreuses œuvres littéraires ultérieures, y compris des éléments de l'histoire de Noé dans la Bible.

Histoire de Dark Revan

 

Dark Revan est un personnage emblématique de l'univers étendu de Star Wars. Son histoire est étroitement liée à celle des jeux vidéo de la série Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR), développés par BioWare et édités par LucasArts.

L'histoire de Dark Revan commence environ 4 000 ans avant les événements des films Star Wars. À cette époque, la galaxie est en proie à une guerre entre la République Galactique et les Sith. Revan est un Jedi talentueux, qui se fait remarquer par ses compétences exceptionnelles et son charisme. Il est rapidement promu au rang de Maître Jedi et devient l'un des héros de la République.

Cependant, lors d'une mission, Revan et son apprenti, Malak, découvrent l'existence d'un ancien Seigneur Sith connu sous le nom de Dark Vitiate. Leur curiosité les pousse à explorer les secrets du côté obscur de la Force, et ils finissent par succomber à sa tentation. Revan et Malak se tournent vers le côté obscur et deviennent des Seigneurs Sith, avec Revan prenant le nom de Dark Revan.

En tant que Seigneur Sith, Dark Revan rassemble une immense armée et mène une campagne de conquête à travers la galaxie. Il se fait connaître pour sa cruauté impitoyable et sa maîtrise de la stratégie militaire. Sous son commandement, les Sith gagnent du terrain et menacent la République Galactique.

Cependant, tout change lorsque Revan est blessé au combat et capturé par les Jedi. Ses souvenirs sont effacés et il est reconditionné pour croire qu'il est un soldat de la République. Il devient ainsi un personnage jouable dans le premier jeu KOTOR, où les joueurs découvrent progressivement son passé et sa véritable identité.

Au cours du jeu, le joueur peut choisir d'embrasser à nouveau le côté obscur ou de se racheter en revenant du côté lumineux de la Force. Quelle que soit la voie choisie, l'histoire de Dark Revan est marquée par la rédemption et la quête de rétablissement de l'équilibre dans la galaxie.

L'histoire de Dark Revan est considérée comme l'une des plus mémorables de l'univers étendu de Star Wars, et elle a laissé une empreinte indélébile dans l'esprit des fans. Les choix moraux complexes, la dualité entre le bien et le mal, ainsi que la personnalité complexe de Revan en ont fait un personnage captivant et iconique de la saga.

Darth Millennial

 

Darth Malgus

 

Dark Malgus est un personnage issu de l'univers étendu de Star Wars. Il apparaît principalement dans le jeu vidéo Star Wars: The Old Republic, développé par BioWare. Dark Malgus est un Seigneur Sith puissant et redoutable, connu pour son rôle dans les conflits qui ont lieu pendant la période de l'Ancienne République.

Malgus, dont le nom complet est Darth Malgus, est un guerrier Sith implacable et ambitieux. Il est présenté comme un antagoniste majeur dans l'histoire du jeu et est considéré comme l'un des Sith les plus redoutables de son époque.

L'histoire de Dark Malgus se déroule environ 300 ans après les événements des films Star Wars préquel. À cette époque, l'Ancienne République et l'Empire Sith sont engagés dans une guerre sans merci connue sous le nom de la Grande Guerre Galactique. Malgus se distingue en menant des assauts audacieux et en utilisant sa force et ses talents au combat pour semer le chaos chez les ennemis de l'Empire Sith.

Dark Malgus est connu pour son apparence intimidante, portant une armure noire distincte et un masque respiratoire, qui lui donne une allure menaçante. Son ambition le pousse à défier l'ordre Sith établi et à tenter de prendre le contrôle de l'Empire Sith lui-même.

L'histoire de Dark Malgus dans Star Wars: The Old Republic est complexe et comporte de nombreux rebondissements. Il est un personnage emblématique du jeu et a contribué à approfondir l'univers de Star Wars dans la période de l'Ancienne République.

Darth Revan

 

Anakin Skywalker

 

Sith Lords

 

Le pouvoir symbolique : Quand les idées dominant le monde

Introduction

Depuis les temps les plus reculés, le pouvoir symbolique a joué un rôle central dans la société humaine. Au-delà de la force brute et des relations de pouvoir basées sur la coercition, le pouvoir symbolique repose sur la capacité des idées, des symboles et des représentations de façonner nos croyances, nos comportements et nos interactions sociales. Dans cet essai, nous examinerons en profondeur le pouvoir symbolique et son impact sur les individus et la société. Nous explorerons comment les symboles et les significations attribuées à ceux-ci peuvent influencer notre perception de la réalité, renforcer les inégalités et maintenir des structures de pouvoir.

I. Les fondements du pouvoir symbolique

Le pouvoir symbolique repose sur la notion que les symboles, qu'ils soient linguistiques, culturels ou sociaux, ont le pouvoir d'attribuer des significations et de construire la réalité sociale. Les langages, les traditions, les normes et les valeurs sont tous des exemples de symboles qui sont utilisés pour créer des systèmes de sens partagés au sein d'une communauté.

II. La construction de la réalité sociale

Le pouvoir symbolique est puissant car il influence notre perception de la réalité. Les symboles et les représentations façonnent nos idées, nos attitudes et nos comportements en créant des cadres de référence dans lesquels nous interprétons le monde qui nous entoure. Par exemple, les médias et la publicité utilisent des images et des slogans symboliques pour influencer notre perception des produits, des services et même de nous-mêmes.

III. Le pouvoir symbolique et les inégalités sociales

Le pouvoir symbolique peut renforcer les inégalités sociales en attribuant des significations différenciées aux différents groupes sociaux. Les symboles peuvent véhiculer des stéréotypes, des préjugés et des normes qui marginalisent certains individus ou groupes. Par exemple, les symboles de richesse et de statut social peuvent renforcer les divisions entre les classes sociales et perpétuer l'inégalité économique.

IV. La résistance et la contestation symbolique

Cependant, le pouvoir symbolique n'est pas unidirectionnel. Les individus et les groupes qui sont marginalisés ou opprimés peuvent également utiliser le pouvoir symbolique pour contester les structures de pouvoir existantes. Par le biais de symboles et de discours alternatifs, ils peuvent remettre en question les normes dominantes et promouvoir des idées de changement et d'égalité.

Conclusion

Le pouvoir symbolique est un concept clé pour comprendre le fonctionnement des sociétés humaines. Les symboles et les significations qui leur sont attribuées ont le pouvoir de façonner notre réalité sociale, d'influencer nos attitudes et nos comportements, et de maintenir ou de défier les structures de pouvoir existantes. Il est essentiel d'être conscient de l'impact du pouvoir symbolique afin de promouvoir une société plus juste et égalitaire, où les idées et les symboles ne sont pas utilisés pour opprimer, mais pour inspirer et créer un monde meilleur.

Sith Lord Darth Bane

 

Key types of analytics according to Gartner

 

Data is not information. Information is not knowledge.

Knowledge is not understanding. Understanding is not

wisdom.

Clifford Stoll

Seven wastes in manufacturing and software development

 

Lord of the Flies

Saints and sinners 
Something within us 
We are lord of the flies 
Saints and sinners 
Something willing us 
To be lord of the flies

Taking things for granted is a good way to get yourself killed

 

We would be honored if you would join us

 

Spider Man 2099

 

Accepted and rejected conditions on confirmation

 

Nazareth Light My Way - Good song can be find in every spacetime.

 

Anakin is gone. I am what remains.

 

A Mente Influente - Notas

• Seu cérebro, como o da maioria das pessoas, está programado para adorar informações. Isso faz de nossa atual era digital uma celebração explosiva para sua mente. 
• Alguns estudiosos afirmam que o cérebro humano desenvolveu a capacidade de raciocinar não para descobrir verdades, mas para convencer os outros de que temos razão.
• Uma reação emocional é o jeito de o corpo dizer: “Ei, tem algo importante acontecendo”, e é fundamental que sua reação esteja de acordo. Tão fundamental que a maior parte de seu cérebro é concebida para que você possa processar o acontecimento que evoca a emoção e gerar uma reação. Quando algo emotivo ocorre, sua amídala – a região do cérebro responsável por sinalizar a excitação – é ativada. A amídala então envia um “sinal de alerta” ao resto do cérebro, alterando imediatamente a atividade corrente. Não importa se você é uma dinamarquesa baixinha ou uma criança sérvia e alta – todos os cérebros são “pré-programados” para reagir de forma aproximadamente similar a estímulos que despertam emoções.
• Acontece que nem sempre precisamos observar as pessoas para que suas emoções reverberem. Postagens em redes sociais bastam.
• Como nos pombos e nos ratos, o desejo humano por instrumentalidade, controle e escolha transborda para situações em que fazer uma escolha não melhora necessariamente o resultado final.
• As pessoas gostam de escolher e, assim, escolhem escolher.
• As pessoas que se sentem no controle de suas vidas são mais felizes e mais saudáveis.
• Quer estejamos no trabalho ou em casa, nosso instinto é de que se temos algo importante a transmitir, o outro vai querer saber. Esse instinto está errado. Se as pessoas não prestam atenção nem mesmo a informações que podem salvar a vida delas, ninguém pode pressupor que darão ouvidos ao que você tem a dizer. Precisamos repensar o que realmente leva as pessoas a quererem ouvir e depois reformular nossa mensagem de acordo com isso, porque ser ouvido é, de longe, o ingrediente mais importante para a influência. O que, então, as pessoas querem saber?
• O desejo de saber é humano.
• Um motivo é reduzir a desagradável incerteza.
• Os neurônios dopaminérgicos são células encefálicas que liberam o neurotransmissor dopamina. 
• A resposta simples é que a informação, em muitos casos, é de fato necessária para a sobrevivência, porque o conhecimento antecipado pode nos ajudar a tomar decisões melhores.
• O que você sabe afeta não só o que você decide fazer, mas também como você se sente. É por isso que a informação é o básico de suas crenças e aquilo em que você acredita tem profundo efeito no quanto você é feliz.
• É importante lembrar, então, que as pessoas são motivadas não só a ganhar recompensas e evitar a dor, mas também a acreditar que ganharão recompensas e evitarão a dor. Isso porque crenças podem deixar as pessoas tão felizes ou tristes quanto eventos reais.
• Quando o mercado está em queda, elas preferem enterrar a cabeça no chão.
• Contudo, isso é válido desde que a má notícia possa ser ignorada.
• O que tal experiência nos mostra é que mesmo que você acredite que ficará melhor na ignorância, enfiar a cabeça na areia pode acabar por deixá-lo mais ansioso. 
• Somos criaturas curiosas, e o único tema por que temos especial curiosidade somos nós mesmas. Na verdade, temos uma necessidade ardente de saber o que os outros pensam de nós e de nosso trabalho, mas não queremos saber de tudo. 
• Quando estamos sob ameaça, é desencadeada uma reação fisiológica pré-programada: o estresse. A evolução nos equipou com essa resposta para nos ajudar a sobreviver. Imagine que você é um antílope no meio da selva e percebe um leão correndo em sua direção. Em segundos, são secretados hormônios do estresse, como o cortisol, despertando uma reação em cadeia – seu coração bate acelerado e a respiração fica mais curta. Não existem recursos de sobra e, assim, funções que não são urgentes devem ser desativadas; seu sistema imunológico se aquieta temporariamente, assim como os sistemas digestivo e reprodutor. Esse não é o momento de lidar com a cura de um ferimento ou digerir o que você estava mastigando uma hora atrás; você deve concentrar todos os recursos em um só objetivo: sobreviver naquele momento.
• Nosso sistema imunológico se enfraquecerá e nos tornaremos mais suscetíveis a doenças; a digestão ficará lenta e, por conseguinte, é mais provável que acumulemos gordura, em particular na área da cintura; nosso sistema reprodutor será desativado e, como consequência de longo prazo, as mulheres podem ter dificuldades para engravidar.
• Assim como o estresse altera significativamente a função de seu coração e dos sistemas digestivo, imunológico e reprodutor, ele também altera seu cérebro. Sempre que você sente o estresse chegar de mansinho, o funcionamento do cérebro se altera drasticamente. Em segundos, o estresse pode mudar a forma como você pensa, toma decisões e se comporta. E ele muda a maneira como você é influenciado por aqueles que o cercam

MARVEL: THOR VS THE SILVER SURFER

 

The Weakness of Data

Your brain, like most people’s, is programmed to get a kick out of information. This makes our current digital era an explosive celebration for your mind. While the agricultural age gave us easier access to nutrition, and the industrial age dramatically increased our quality of life, no other era provided as much stimulation for our brains as the information age. It is as if, finally, the human brain has succeeded in building its own amusement park, complete with thrill rides, which are perfectly customized . . . for itself.

Consider the numbers: there are 3 billion Internet users worldwide; every day we produce approximately 2.5 billion gigabytes of data, perform 4 billion Google searches, and watch 10 billion YouTube videos. In the short time it took you to read the last sentence, approximately 530,243 new Google searches were executed and 1,184,390 YouTube videos played around the globe.3

It would seem that the digital revolution should come in handy when we are trying to alter people’s beliefs. If people love information, what better way to influence their beliefs and actions than to offer data? With big data at our fingertips and powerful computers at our disposal, we can run analyses to expand our knowledge and then share the resulting facts and figures. Seems straightforward, right?

That is, until you attempt to present your carefully collected data and thoughtfully constructed conclusions to the person you are hoping to influence. At that moment, you quickly realize that data is often not the answer when it comes to changing minds.

This epiphany came as a terrible blow to the scientist in me. As a cognitive neuroscientist, I work at the intersection between psychology and neuroscience. Like most scientists, I love data. Some people collect precious rocks; others collect first-edition books, stamps, shoes, vintage cars, or china dolls. I collect data. My computers hold hundreds of folders with thousands of files, each containing rows and rows of numbers. Every number represents an observation: a person’s response to a decision problem or their reaction to another human; other numbers indicate the activity in a person’s brain or the density of their neuronal fibers. Numbers on their own are useless. The reason I love data is that those rows and rows of numbers can be transformed into something beautiful: meaningful graphs, which, every so often, reveal an exciting new insight into what makes you and me, Homo sapiens, tick.

So, you can imagine my dismay when I learned that all those numbers, from numerous experiments and observations, pointed to the fact that people are not in fact driven by facts, or figures, or data. It is not that people are stupid; nor are we ridiculously stubborn. It is that the accessibility to lots of data, analytic tools, and powerful computers is the product of the last few decades, while the brains we are attempting to influence are the product of millions of decades. As it turns out, while we adore data, the currency by which our brains assess said data and make decisions is very different from the currency many of us believe our brains should use. The problem with an approach that prioritizes information and logic is that it ignores the core of what makes you and me human: our motives, our fears, our hopes and desires. As we will see, this presents a serious problem; it means that data has only a limited capacity to alter the strong opinions of others. Established beliefs can be extremely resistant to change, even when scientific evidence is provided to undermine those beliefs.

FUNDAMENTALS OF HUMAN ACTION

THE DISTINCTIVE AND CRUCIAL FEATURE in the study of man is the concept of action. Human action is defined simply as purposeful behavior. It is therefore sharply distinguishable from those observed movements which, from the point of view of man, are not purposeful. 

These include all the observed movements of inorganic matter and those types of human behavior that are purely reflex, that are simply involuntary responses to certain stimuli. Human action, on the other hand, can be meaningfully interpreted by other men, for it is governed by a certain purpose that the actor has in view. The purpose of a man’s act is his end; the desire to achieve this end is the man’s motive for instituting the action.

All human beings act by virtue of their existence and their nature as human beings.3 We could not conceive of human beings who do not act purposefully, who have no ends in view that they desire and attempt to attain. Things that did not act, that did not behave purposefully, would no longer be classified as human.

It is this fundamental truth—this axiom of human action—that forms the key to our study. The entire realm of praxeology and its best developed subdivision, economics, is based on an analysis of the necessary logical implications of this concept.

The fact that men act by virtue of their being human is indisputable and incontrovertible. To assume the contrary would be an absurdity. The contrary—the absence of motivated behavior— would apply only to plants and inorganic matter.

Monetary Inflation

 

Respect the Wind

 

Statistics in the Context of Research

Merge Sort

 

Periodic Table of Algorithms

 

Logical Connectives

 

The goals of code quality

Code should work

This one is so obvious that it probably doesn’t need stating, but I’ll go ahead and say it anyway. When we write code, we are trying to solve a problem, such as implementing a feature, fixing a bug, or performing a task. The primary aim of our code is that it should work: it should solve the problem that we intend it to solve. This also implies that the code is bug free, because the presence of bugs will likely prevent it from working properly and fully solving the problem.

When defining what code “working” means, we need to be sure to actually capture all the requirements. For example, if the problem we are solving is particularly sensitive to performance (such as latency, or CPU usage), then ensuring that our code is adequately performant comes under “code should work,” because it’s part of the requirements. The same applies to other important considerations such as user privacy and security.

Code should keep working

Code “working” can be a very transient thing; it might work today, but how do we make sure that it will still be working tomorrow, or in a year’s time? This might seem like an odd question: “if nothing changes, then why would it stop working?”, but the point is that stuff changes all the time:

• Code likely depends on other code that will get modified, updated, and changed.
• Any new functionality required may mean that modifications are required to the code.
• The problem we’re trying to solve might evolve over time: consumer preferences, business needs, and technology considerations can all change.

Code that works today but breaks tomorrow when one of these things changes is not very useful. It’s often easy to create code that works, but a lot harder to create code that keeps working. Ensuring that code keeps working is one of the biggest considerations that software engineers face, and is something that needs to be considered at all stages of coding. Considering it as an afterthought, or just assuming that adding some tests later on will achieve this are often not effective approaches.

Code should be adaptable to changing requirements

It’s actually quite rare that a piece of code is written once and then never modified again. Continued development on a piece of software can span several months, usually several years, and sometimes even decades. Throughout this process requirements change:

• business realities shift
• consumer preferences change
• assumptions get invalidated
• new features are continually added

Deciding how much effort to put into making code adaptable can be a tricky balancing act. On the one hand, we pretty much know that the requirements for a piece of software will evolve over time (it’s extremely rare that they don’t). But on the other hand, we often have no certainty about exactly how they will evolve. It’s impossible to make perfectly accurate predictions about how a piece of code or software will change over time. But just because we don’t know exactly how something will evolve, it doesn’t mean that we should completely ignore the fact that it will evolve. To illustrate this, let’s consider two extreme scenarios:

• Scenario A — We try to predict exactly how the requirements might evolve in the future and engineer our code to support all of these potential changes. We will likely spend days or weeks mapping out all the ways that we think the code and software might evolve. We’ll then have to carefully deliberate every minutia of the code we write to ensure that it supports all of these potential future requirements. This will slow us down enormously; a piece of software that might have taken 3 months to complete might now take a year or more to complete. And at the end of it, it will probably have been a waste of time because a competitor will have beaten us to the market by several months, and our predictions about the future will probably turn out to be wrong anyway.
• Scenario B — We completely ignore the fact that the requirements might evolve. We write code to exactly meet the requirements as they are now and put no effort into making any of the code adaptable. Brittle assumptions get baked all over the place and solutions to subproblems are all bundled together into large inseparable chunks of code. We get the first version of the software launched within three months, but the feedback from the initial set of users makes it clear that we need to modify some of the features and add some new ones if we want the software to be successful. The changes to the requirements are not massive, but because we didn’t consider adaptability when writing the code, our only option is to throw everything away and start again. We then have to spend another three months rewriting the software, and if the requirements change again, we’ll have to spend another three months rewriting it again after that. By the time we’ve created a piece of software that actually meets the users’ needs, a competitor has once again beaten us to it.

Scenario A and scenario B represent two opposing extremes. The outcome in both scenarios is quite bad and neither is an effective way to create software. Instead, we need to find an approach somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. There’s no single answer for which point on the spectrum between scenario A and scenario B is optimal. It will depend on the kind of project we’re working on and on the culture of the organization we work for.

Code should not reinvent the wheel

When we write code to solve a problem, we generally take a big problem and break it down into many subproblems. For example, if we were writing some code to load an image file, turn into a grayscale image, and then save it again, the subproblems we need to solve are:

• Load some bytes of data from a file
• Parse the bytes of data into an image format
• Transform the image to grayscale
• Convert the image back into bytes
• Save those bytes back to the file

Many of these problems have already been solved by others, for example loading some bytes from a file is likely something that the programming language has built in support for. We wouldn’t go and write our own code to do low-level communication with the file system.

Similarly, there is probably an existing library that we can pull in to parse the bytes into an image. If we do write our own code to do low-level communication with the file system or to parse some bytes into an image, then we are effectively reinventing the wheel. There are several reasons why it’s best to make use of an existing solution over reinventing it:

• It saves a lot of time — If we made use of the built-in support for loading a file, it’d probably take only a few lines of code and a few minutes of our time. In contrast, writing our own code to do this would likely require reading numerous standard documents about file systems and writing many thousands of lines of code. It would probably take us many days if not weeks.
• It decreases the chance of bugs — If there is existing code somewhere to solve a given problem, then it should already have been thoroughly tested. It’s also likely that it’s already being used in the wild, so the chance of the code containing bugs is lowered, because if there were any, they’ve likely been discovered and fixed already.
• It utilizes existing expertise — The team maintaining the code that parses some bytes into an image are likely experts on image encoding. If a new version of JPEGencoding comes out, then they’ll likely know about it and update their code. By reusing their code, we benefit from their expertise and future updates.
• It makes code easier to understand — If there is a standardized way of doing something then there’s a reasonable chance that another engineer will have already seen it before. Most engineers have probably had to read a file at some point, so they will instantly recognize the built-in way of doing that and understand how it functions. If we write our own custom logic for doing this, then other engineers will not be familiar with it and won’t instantly know how it functions.

The concept of not reinventing the wheel applies in both directions. If another engineer has already written code to solve a subproblem, then we should call their code rather than writing our own to solve it. But similarly, if we write code to solve a subproblem, then we should structure our code in a way that makes it easy for other engineers to reuse, so they don’t need to reinvent the wheel.

The same classes of subproblems often crop up again and again, so the benefits of sharing code between different engineers and teams are often realized very quickly.

Bad code, good code

 

Types of Code

• Code base — the repository of code from which pieces of software can be built. This will typically be managed by a version control system such as git, subversion, perforce, etc.
• Submitting code — sometimes called “committing code”, or “merging a pull request”. A programmer will typically make changes to the code in a local copy of the code base. Once they are happy with the change, they will submit it to the main code base. Note: in some setups, a designated maintainer has to pull the changes into the code base, rather than the author submitting them.
• Code review — many organizations require code to be reviewed by another engineer before it can be submitted to the code base. This is a bit like having code proofread, a second pair of eyes will often spot issues that the author of the code missed.
• Pre-submit checks — sometimes called “pre-merge hooks”, “pre-merge checks”, or “pre-commit checks”. These will block a change from being submitted to the code base if tests fail, or if the code does not compile.
• A release — a piece of software is built from a snapshot of the code base. After various quality assurance checks, this is then released “into the wild”. You will often hear the phrase “cutting a release” to refer to the process of taking a certain revision of the code base and making a release from it.
• Production — this is the proper term for “in the wild” when software is deployed to a server or a system (rather than shipped to customers). Once software is released and performing business-related tasks it is said to be “running in production”

High-quality code maximizes the chance that the software will be reliable, maintainable, and meet its requirements. Low-quality code tends to do the opposite.

 

Chomsky Hierarchy in Theory of Computation

 

Types of Complexity Classes | P, NP, CoNP, NP hard and NP complete

 

Named Entity Recognition