Category Archives: Literature

Don Quixote – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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fully titled The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha (Spanish: El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha), is a novel written byMiguel de Cervantes. The novel follows the adventures of Alonso Quijano, who reads too many chivalric novels, and sets out to revive chivalry under the name of Don Quixote. He recruits a simple farmer, Sancho Panza as his squire, who frequently deals with Don Quixote’s rhetorical orations on antiquated knighthood with a unique Earthy wit.

He is met by the world as it is, initiating themes like Intertextuality, Realism, Metatheatre and Literary Representation.

via Don Quixote – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Geist – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Geist (German pronunciation: [ˈɡaɪst]) is a German word.

Depending on context it can be translated as the English words mind, spirit, or ghost, covering the semantic field of these three English nouns. Some English translators resort to using “spirit/mind” or “spirit (mind)” to help convey the meaning of the term.

Edmund Spenser‘s usage of the English-language word ‘ghost’, in his 1590 The Faerie Queene, demonstrates the former, broader meaning of the English-language term. In this context, the term describes the sleeping mind of a living person, rather than a ghost, or spirit of the dead.

The word Geist is etymologically identical to the English ghost (from a Common Germanic *gaistaz) but has retained its full range of meanings, while some applications of the English word ghost had become obsolete by the 17th century, replaced with the Latinate spirit.[3] For this reason, English-language translators of the term Geist from the German language face some difficulty in rendering the term, and often disagree as to the best translation in a given context.

via Geist – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Mentat – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The Mentat discipline is developed as a replacement for computerized calculation, humans trained to mimic computers: human minds developed to staggering heights of cognitive and analytical ability.

Unlike computers, however, Mentats are not simply calculators. Instead, the exceptional cognitive abilities of memory and perception are the foundations for supra-logical hypothesizing.

Mentats are able to sift large volumes of data and devise concise analyses in a process that goes far beyond logical deduction: Mentats cultivate “the naïve mind”, the mind without preconception or prejudice, so as to extract essential patterns or logic from data and deliver useful conclusions with varying degrees of certainty.

via Mentat – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Litany Against Fear

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via Litany Against Fear.

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
- Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear

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Comparative literature – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Comparative literature (sometimes abbreviated “Comp. lit.”) is an academic field dealing with the literature of two or more different linguistic, cultural or national groups.

While most frequently practiced with works of different languages, comparative literature may also be performed on works of the same language if the works originate from different nations or cultures among which that language is spoken. Also included in the range of inquiry are comparisons of different types of art; for example, a relationship of film to literature. It is one of the degrees in English.

via Comparative literature – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Continue reading →

The 20 Best Books for Language Lovers | Online College Tips – Online Colleges

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Language pervades everything, building and destroying as time marches ever forward.

And while even the most learned scholars can’t even begin to fully explain its physiology, origins, structures and pretty much every other component, they’ve certainly done a pretty lovely job scratching the surface.

via The 20 Best Books for Language Lovers | Online College Tips – Online Colleges.

Philosophy of Ghost in the Shell – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The Ghost in the Shell series of anime and manga titles is a Japanese cyberpunk story that offers many observations on present day philosophy and speculations on future philosophy.

Ghost in the Shell takes place in the year 2029, when the world has become interconnected by a vast electronic network that permeates every aspect of life.

People also tend to rely more and more on cybernetic implants, and the first strong AIs make their appearance. The main entity presented in the various media is the Public Security Section 9 police force, which is charged to investigate cases like the Puppet Master and the Laughing Man.

Yet, as those criminals are revealed to have more depth than was at first apparent, the various protagonists are left with disturbing questions: “What exactly is the definition of ‘human’ in a society where a mind can be copied and the body replaced with a synthetic form?”, “What exactly is the ‘ghost’ —the essence— in the cybernetic ‘shell’?”, “Where is the boundary between human and machine when the differences between the two become more philosophical than physical?”, etc. Continue reading →