🖍️Andrew Ng - Collected Quotes

"AI is not a panacea. It cannot solve all problems. And like every technological disruption before it (the steam engine, internal combustion, electricity), it will bring about disruption good and bad." (Andrew Ng, [blog post] 2018)

"Carrying out error analysis on a learning algorithm is like using data science to analyze an ML system’s mistakes in order to derive insights about what to do next. At its most basic, error analysis by parts tells us what component(s) performance is (are) worth the greatest effort to improve." (Andrew Ng, "Machine Learning Yearning", 2018)

"In practice, increasing the size of your model will eventually cause you to run into computational problems because training very large models is slow. You might also exhaust your ability to acquire more training data. [...] Increasing the model size generally reduces bias, but it might also increase variance and the risk of overfitting. However, this overfitting problem usually arises only when you are not using regularization. If you include a well-designed regularization method, then you can usually safely increase the size of the model without increasing overfitting." (Andrew Ng, "Machine Learning Yearning", 2018)

"It is very difficult to know in advance what approach will work best for a new problem. Even experienced machine learning researchers will usually try out many dozens of ideas before they discover something satisfactory." (Andrew Ng, "Machine Learning Yearning", 2018)

"Keep in mind that artificial data synthesis has its challenges: it is sometimes easier to create synthetic data that appears realistic to a person than it is to create data that appears realistic to a computer." (Andrew Ng, "Machine Learning Yearning", 2018)

"AI is the new electricity: even with its current limitations, it is already transforming multiple industries. (Andrew Ng, [blog post] 2018)

"Artificial Intelligence can't solve all the world's problems, but it can help us with some of the biggest ones." (Andrew Ng) [attributed]

"Artificial Intelligence is a tool to help us be better humans, to help us get through the world more easily and richer and be more productive and engaging." (Andrew Ng) [attributed]

"If you can collect really large datasets, the algorithms often don't matter." (Andrew Ng) [attributed]

"Missing data is an opportunity, not a limitation." (Andrew Ng) [attributed]

"No one knows what the right algorithm is, but it gives us hope that if we can discover some crude approximation of whatever this algorithm is and implement it on a computer, that can help us make a lot of progress." (Andrew Ng) [attributed]

"Real-world problems are messy, and they rarely fit exactly into one category or another." (Andrew Ng) [attributed]

"The ability to innovate and to be creative are teachable processes. There are ways by which people can systematically innovate or systematically become creative." (Andrew Ng) [attributed]

"The key to AI success is not just having the right algorithms, but also having the right data to train those algorithms." (Andrew Ng) [attributed]

"The more data we can feed into the algorithms, the better models we can build." (Andrew Ng) [attributed]

🖍️John D Barrow - Collected Quotes

"Each of the most basic physical laws that we know corresponds to some invariance, which in turn is equivalent to a collection of changes which form a symmetry group. […] whilst leaving some underlying theme unchanged. […] for example, the conservation of energy is equivalent to the invariance of the laws of motion with respect to translations backwards or forwards in time […] the conservation of linear momentum is equivalent to the invariance of the laws of motion with respect to the position of your laboratory in space, and the conservation of angular momentum to an invariance with respect to directional orientation [...] discovery of conservation laws indicated that Nature possessed built-in sustaining principles which prevented the world from just ceasing to be."  (John D Barrow, "New Theories of Everything: The Quest for Ultimate Explanation", 1991)

"Everywhere […] in the Universe, we discern that closed physical systems evolve in the same sense from ordered states towards a state of complete disorder called thermal equilibrium. This cannot be a consequence of known laws of change, since […] these laws are time symmetric- they permit […] time-reverse. […] The initial conditions play a decisive role in endowing the world with its sense of temporal direction. […] some prescription for initial conditions is crucial if we are to understand […]" (John D Barrow, "New Theories of Everything: The Quest for Ultimate Explanation", 1991)

"In practice, the intelligibility of the world amounts to the fact that we find it to be algorithmically compressible. We can replace sequences of facts and observational data by abbreviated statements which contain the same information content. These abbreviations we often call 'laws of Nature.' If the world were not algorithmically compressible, then there would exist no simple laws of nature. Instead of using the law of gravitation to compute the orbits of the planets at whatever time in history we want to know them, we would have to keep precise records of the positions of the planets at all past times; yet this would still not help us one iota in predicting where they would be at any time in the future. This world is potentially and actually intelligible because at some level it is extensively algorithmically compressible. At root, this is why mathematics can work as a description of the physical world. It is the most expedient language that we have found in which to express those algorithmic compressions."  (John D Barrow, "New Theories of Everything: The Quest for Ultimate Explanation", 1991)

"On this view, we recognize science to be the search for algorithmic compressions. We list sequences of observed data. We try to formulate algorithms that compactly represent the information content of those sequences. Then we test the correctness of our hypothetical abbreviations by using them to predict the next terms in the string. These predictions can then be compared with the future direction of the data sequence. Without the development of algorithmic compressions of data all science would be replaced by mindless stamp collecting - the indiscriminate accumulation of every available fact. Science is predicated upon the belief that the Universe is algorithmically compressible and the modern search for a Theory of Everything is the ultimate expression of that belief, a belief that there is an abbreviated representation of the logic behind the Universe's properties that can be written down in finite form by human beings."  (John D Barrow, "New Theories of Everything: The Quest for Ultimate Explanation", 1991)

"The goal of science is to make sense of the diversity of Nature."  (John D Barrow, "New Theories of Everything: The Quest for Ultimate Explanation", 1991)

"There is one qualitative aspect of reality that sticks out from all others in both profundity and mystery. It is the consistent success of mathematics as a description of the workings of reality and the ability of the human mind to discover and invent mathematical truths."  (John D Barrow, "New Theories of Everything: The Quest for Ultimate Explanation", 1991)

"Highly correlated brown and black noise patterns do not seem to have seem to have attractive counterparts in the visual arts. There, over-correlation is the order of the day, because it creates the same dramatic associations that we find in attractive natural scenery, or in the juxtaposition of symbols. Somehow, it is tediously predictable when cast in a one-dimensional medium, like sound." (John D Barrow, "The Artful Universe", 1995)

"Where there is life there is a pattern, and where there is a pattern there is mathematics." (John D Barrow, "The Artful Universe", 1995)

"The advent of small, inexpensive computers with superb graphics has changed the way many sciences are practiced, and the way that all sciences present the results of experiments and calculations." (John D Barrow, "Cosmic Imagery: Key Images in the History of Science", 2008)

🖍️Herbert F Spirer - Collected Quotes

"Clearly, the mean is greatly influenced by extreme values, but it can be appropriate for many situations where extreme values do not arise. To avoid misuse, it is essential to know which summary measure best reflects the data and to use it carefully. Understanding the situation is necessary for making the right choice. Know the subject!" (Herbert F Spirer et al, "Misused Statistics" 2nd Ed, 1998)

"'Garbage in, garbage out' is a sound warning for those in the computer field; it is every bit as sound in the use of statistics. Even if the “garbage” which comes out leads to a correct conclusion, this conclusion is still tainted, as it cannot be supported by logical reasoning. Therefore, it is a misuse of statistics. But obtaining a correct conclusion from faulty data is the exception, not the rule. Bad basic data (the 'garbage in') almost always leads to incorrect conclusions (the 'garbage out'). Unfortunately, incorrect conclusions can lead to bad policy or harmful actions." (Herbert F Spirer et al, "Misused Statistics" 2nd Ed, 1998)

"Graphic misrepresentation is a frequent misuse in presentations to the nonprofessional. The granddaddy of all graphical offenses is to omit the zero on the vertical axis. As a consequence, the chart is often interpreted as if its bottom axis were zero, even though it may be far removed. This can lead to attention-getting headlines about 'a soar' or 'a dramatic rise (or fall)'. A modest, and possibly insignificant, change is amplified into a disastrous or inspirational trend." (Herbert F Spirer et al, "Misused Statistics" 2nd Ed, 1998)

"If you want to show the growth of numbers which tend to grow by percentages, plot them on a logarithmic vertical scale. When plotted against a logarithmic vertical axis, equal percentage changes take up equal distances on the vertical axis. Thus, a constant annual percentage rate of change will plot as a straight line. The vertical scale on a logarithmic chart does not start at zero, as it shows the ratio of values (in this case, land values), and dividing by zero is impossible." (Herbert F Spirer et al, "Misused Statistics" 2nd Ed, 1998)

"In analyzing data, more is not necessarily better. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to have one uniquely correct procedure for analyzing a given data set. An investigator may use several different methods of statistical analysis on a data set. Furthermore, different outcomes may result from the use of different analytical methods. If more than one conclusion results, then an investigator is committing a misuse of statistics unless the investigator shows and reconciles all the results. If the investigator shows only one conclusion or interpretation, ignoring the alternative procedure(s), the work is a misuse of statistics." (Herbert F Spirer et al, "Misused Statistics" 2nd Ed, 1998)

"It is a consequence of the definition of the arithmetic mean that the mean will lie somewhere between the lowest and highest values. In the unrealistic and meaningless case that all values which make up the mean are the same, all values will be equal to the average. In an unlikely and impractical case, it is possible for only one of many values to be above or below the average. By the very definition of the average, it is impossible for all values to be above average in any case." (Herbert F Spirer et al, "Misused Statistics" 2nd Ed, 1998)

"It is a major statistical sin to show a graph displaying a variable as a function of time with the vertical (left-hand) scale cut short so that it does not go down to zero, without drawing attention to this fact. This sin can create a seriously misleading impression, and, as they do with most sins, sinners commit it again and again." (Herbert F Spirer et al, "Misused Statistics" 2nd Ed, 1998)

"It is a misuse of statistics to use whichever set of statistics suits the purpose at hand and ignore the conflicting sets and the implications of the conflicts." (Herbert F Spirer et al, "Misused Statistics" 2nd Ed, 1998)

"Jargon and complex methodology have their place. But true professional jargon is merely a shorthand way of speaking. Distrust any jargon that cannot be translated into plain English. Sophisticated methods can bring unique insights, but they can also be used to cover inadequate data and thinking. Good analysts can explain their methods in simple, direct terms. Distrust anyone who can't make clear how they have treated the data." (Herbert F Spirer et al, "Misused Statistics" 2nd Ed, 1998)

"Know the subject matter, learn it fast, or get a trustworthy expert. To identify the unknown, you must know the known. But don't be afraid to challenge experts on the basis of your logical reasoning. Sometimes a knowledge of the subject matter can blind the expert to the novel or unexpected." (Herbert F Spirer et al, "Misused Statistics" 2nd Ed, 1998)

"Percentages seem to invite misuse, perhaps because they require such careful thinking." (Herbert F Spirer et al, "Misused Statistics" 2nd Ed, 1998)

"There is no shortage of statistical methods. Elementary statistics textbooks list dozens, and statisticians constantly develop and report new ones. But if a researcher uses the wrong method, a clear misuse, to analyze a specific set of data, then the results may be incorrect." (Herbert F Spirer et al, "Misused Statistics" 2nd Ed, 1998)

"When an analyst selects the wrong tool, this is a misuse which usually leads to invalid conclusions. Incorrect use of even a tool as simple as the mean can lead to serious misuses. […] But all statisticians know that more complex tools do not guarantee an analysis free of misuses. Vigilance is required on every statistical level."  (Herbert F Spirer et al, "Misused Statistics" 2nd Ed, 1998)

🖍️Alfred R Ilersic - Collected Quotes

"Diagrams are sometimes used, not merely to convey several pieces of information such as several time series on one chart, but also to provide visual evidence of relationships between the series." (Alfred R Ilersic, "Statistics", 1959)

"Everybody has some idea of the meaning of the term 'probability' but there is no agreement among scientists on a precise definition of the term for the purpose of scientific methodology. It is sufficient for our purpose, however, if the concept is interpreted in terms of relative frequency, or more simply, how many times a particular event is likely to occur in a large population." (Alfred R Ilersic, "Statistics", 1959)

"However informative and well designed a statistical table may be, as a medium for conveying to the reader an immediate and clear impression of its content, it is inferior to a good chart or graph. Many people are incapable of comprehending large masses of information presented in tabular form; the figures merely confuse them. Furthermore, many such people are unwilling to make the effort to grasp the meaning of such data. Graphs and charts come into their own as a means of conveying information in easily comprehensible form." (Alfred R Ilersic, "Statistics", 1959)

"In brief, the greatest care must be exercised in using any statistical data, especially when it has been collected by another agency. At all times, the statistician who uses published data must ask himself, by whom were the data collected, how and for what purpose?" (Alfred R Ilersic, "Statistics", 1959)

"It is a good rule to remember that the first step in analyzing any statistical data, whether it be culled from an official publication or a report prepared by someone else, is to check the definitions used for classification." (Alfred R Ilersic, "Statistics", 1959)

"It is helpful to remember when dealing with index numbers that they are specialized tools and as such are most efficient and useful when properly used. A screwdriver is a poor substitute for a chisel, although it may be used as such. All index numbers are designed to measure particular groups of related changes." (Alfred R Ilersic, "Statistics", 1959)

"Most people tend to think of values and quantities expressed in numerical terms as being exact figures; much the same as the figures which appear in the trading account of a company. It therefore comes as a considerable surprise to many to learn that few published statistics, particularly economic and sociological data, are exact. Many published figures are only approximations to the real value, while others are estimates of aggregates which are far too large to be measured with precision." (Alfred R Ilersic, "Statistics", 1959)

"Numerical data, which have been recorded at intervals of time, form what is generally described as a time series. [...] The purpose of analyzing time series is not always the determination of the trend by itself. Interest may be centered on the seasonal movement displayed by the series and, in such a case, the determination of the trend is merely a stage in the process of measuring and analyzing the seasonal variation. If a regular basic or under- lying seasonal movement can be clearly established, forecasting of future movements becomes rather less a matter of guesswork and more a matter of intelligent forecasting." (Alfred R Ilersic, "Statistics", 1959)

"Often, in order to simplify statistical tables, the practice of rounding large figures and totals is resorted to. Where the constituent figures in a table together with their aggregate have been so treated, a discrepancy between the rounded total and the true sum of the rounded constituent figures frequently arises. Under no circumstances should the total be adjusted to what appears to be the right answer. A note to the table to the effect that the figures have been rounded, e.g. to the nearest 1,000, is all that is necessary. The same remark applies to percentage equivalents of the constituent parts of a total; it they do not add to exactly 100 per cent, leave them." (Alfred R Ilersic, "Statistics", 1959)

"Poor statistics may be attributed to a number of causes. There are the mistakes which arise in the course of collecting the data, and there are those which occur when those data are being converted into manageable form for publication. Still later, mistakes arise because the conclusions drawn from the published data are wrong. The real trouble with errors which arise during the course of collecting the data is that they are the hardest to detect." (Alfred R Ilersic, "Statistics", 1959)

"Statistical method consists of two main operations; counting and analysis. [...] The statistician has no use for information that cannot be expressed numerically, nor generally speaking, is he interested in isolated events or examples. The term 'data  is itself plural and the statistician is concerned with the analysis of aggregates. " (Alfred R Ilersic, "Statistics", 1959)

"The averaging of percentages themselves requires care, where the percentages are each computed on different bases, i.e. different quantities. The average is not derived by aggregating the percentages and dividing them. Instead of this, each percentage must first be multiplied by its base to bring out its relative significance to the other percentages and to the total. The sum of the resultant products is then divided by the sum of the base values [...], not merely the number of items." (Alfred R Ilersic, "Statistics", 1959)

"The rounding of individual values comprising an aggregate can give rise to what are known as unbiased or biased errors. [...]The biased error arises because all the individual figures are reduced to the lower 1,000 [...] The unbiased error is so described since by rounding each item to the nearest 1,000 some of the approximations are greater and some smaller than the original figures. Given a large number of such approximations, the final total may therefore correspond very closely to the true or original total, since the approximations tend to offset each other. [...] With biased approximations, however, the errors are cumulative and their aggregate increases with the number of items in the series." (Alfred R Ilersic, "Statistics", 1959)

"The simplest way of indicating that figures are not given precisely to the last unit is to express them to the nearest 100 or 1,000; or in some cases to the nearest 100,000 or million. [...] The widespread desire for precision is reflected in many reports on economic trends which quote figures in great detail, rather than emphasizing the trends and movements reflected in the figures." (Alfred R Ilersic, "Statistics", 1959)

"The statistician has no use for information that cannot be expressed numerically, nor generally speaking, is he interested in isolated events or examples. The term ' data ' is itself plural and the statistician is concerned with the analysis of aggregates." (Alfred R Ilersic, "Statistics", 1959)

"The statistics themselves prove nothing; nor are they at any time a substitute for logical thinking. There are […] many simple but not always obvious snags in the data to contend with. Variations in even the simplest of figures may conceal a compound of influences which have to be taken into account before any conclusions are drawn from the data." (Alfred R Ilersic, "Statistics", 1959)

"There are good statistics and bad statistics; it may be doubted if there are many perfect data which are of any practical value. It is the statistician's function to discriminate between good and bad data; to decide when an informed estimate is justified and when it is not; to extract the maximum reliable information from limited and possibly biased data." (Alfred R Ilersic, "Statistics", 1959)

"This is the essential characteristic of a logarithmic scale. Any given increase, regardless of its absolute size, is related to a given base quantity. Thus, a perfectly straight line on such a graph denotes a constant percentage rate of increase, and not a constant absolute increase. It is the slope of the line or curve which is significant in such a graph. The steeper the slope, whether it be downwards or upwards, the more marked is the rate of change." (Alfred R Ilersic, "Statistics", 1959)

"This type of graph possesses a number of advantages. It is possible to graph a number of series of widely differing magnitudes on a single chart and bring out any relationship between their movements. How- ever wide the amplitude of the fluctuations in the series, a logarithmic scale reduces them to manageable size on a single sheet of graph paper, whereas, on a normal scale, it might prove impossible to get the larger fluctuations on to a single chart, except by so reducing the scale that all the other smaller movements in the series are almost obliterated." (Alfred R Ilersic, "Statistics", 1959)

"Time series analysis often requires more knowledge of the data and relevant information about their background than it does of statistical techniques. Whereas the data in some other fields may be controlled so as to increase their representativeness, economic data are so changeable in their nature that it is usually impossible to sort out the separate effects of the various influences. Attempts to isolate cyclical, seasonal and irregular, or random movements, are made primarily in the hope that some underlying pattern of change over time may be revealed."  (Alfred R Ilersic, "Statistics", 1959)

"When using estimated figures, i.e. figures subject to error, for further calculation make allowance for the absolute and relative errors. Above all, avoid what is known to statisticians as 'spurious' accuracy. For example, if the arithmetic Mean has to be derived from a distribution of ages given to the nearest year, do not give the answer to several places of decimals. Such an answer would imply a degree of accuracy in the results of your calculations which are quite un- justified by the data. The same holds true when calculating percentages." (Alfred R Ilersic, "Statistics", 1959)

"While it is true to assert that much statistical work involves arithmetic and mathematics, it would be quite untrue to suggest that the main source of errors in statistics and their use is due to inaccurate calculations." (Alfred R Ilersic, "Statistics", 1959)

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🖍️Charles Livingston - Collected Quotes

"Cautions about combining groups: apples and oranges. In computing an average, be careful about combining groups in which the average for each group is of more interest than the overall average. […] Avoid combining distinct quantities in a single average." (Charles Livingston & Paul Voakes, "Working with Numbers and Statistics: A handbook for journalists", 2005)

"Central tendency is the formal expression for the notion of where data is centered, best understood by most readers as 'average'. There is no one way of measuring where data are centered, and different measures provide different insights." (Charles Livingston & Paul Voakes, "Working with Numbers and Statistics: A handbook for journalists", 2005)

"Concluding that the population is becoming more centralized by observing behavior at the extremes is called the 'Regression to the Mean' Fallacy. […] When looking for a change in a population, do not look only at the extremes; there you will always find a motion to the mean. Look at the entire population." (Charles Livingston & Paul Voakes, "Working with Numbers and Statistics: A handbook for journalists", 2005)

"Data often arrive in raw form, as long lists of numbers. In this case your job is to summarize the data in a way that captures its essence and conveys its meaning. This can be done numerically, with measures such as the average and standard deviation, or graphically. At other times you find data already in summarized form; in this case you must understand what the summary is telling, and what it is not telling, and then interpret the information for your readers or viewers." (Charles Livingston & Paul Voakes, "Working with Numbers and Statistics: A handbook for journalists", 2005)

"If a hypothesis test points to rejection of the alternative hypothesis, it might not indicate that the null hypothesis is correct or that the alternative hypothesis is false." (Charles Livingston & Paul Voakes, "Working with Numbers and Statistics: A handbook for journalists", 2005)

"Limit a sentence to no more than three numerical values. If you've got more important quantities to report, break those up into other sentences. More importantly, however, make sure that each number is an important piece of information. Which are the important numbers that truly advance the story?" (Charles Livingston & Paul Voakes, "Working with Numbers and Statistics: A handbook for journalists", 2005)

"Numbers are often useful in stories because they record a recent change in some amount, or because they are being compared with other numbers. Percentages, ratios and proportions are often better than raw numbers in establishing a context." (Charles Livingston & Paul Voakes, "Working with Numbers and Statistics: A handbook for journalists", 2005)

"Probability is sometimes called the language of statistics. […] The probability of an event occurring might be described as the likelihood of it happening. […] In a formal sense the word "probability" is used only when an event or experiment is repeatable and the long term likelihood of a certain outcome can be determined." (Charles Livingston & Paul Voakes, "Working with Numbers and Statistics: A handbook for journalists", 2005)

"Roughly stated, the standard deviation gives the average of the differences between the numbers on the list and the mean of that list. If data are very spread out, the standard deviation will be large. If the data are concentrated near the mean, the standard deviation will be small." (Charles Livingston & Paul Voakes, "Working with Numbers and Statistics: A handbook for journalists", 2005)

"The basic idea of going from an estimate to an inference is simple. Drawing the conclusion with confidence, and measuring the level of confidence, is where the hard work of professional statistics comes in." (Charles Livingston & Paul Voakes, "Working with Numbers and Statistics: A handbook for journalists", 2005)

"The central limit theorem […] states that regardless of the shape of the curve of the original population, if you repeatedly randomly sample a large segment of your group of interest and take the average result, the set of averages will follow a normal curve." (Charles Livingston & Paul Voakes, "Working with Numbers and Statistics: A handbook for journalists", 2005)

"The dual meaning of the word significant brings into focus the distinction between drawing a mathematical inference and practical inference from statistical results." (Charles Livingston & Paul Voakes, "Working with Numbers and Statistics: A handbook for journalists", 2005)

"The percentage is one of the best (mathematical) friends a journalist can have, because it quickly puts numbers into context. And it's a context that the vast majority of readers and viewers can comprehend immediately." (Charles Livingston & Paul Voakes, "Working with Numbers and Statistics: A handbook for journalists", 2005)

🧿Glenn Greenwald - Collected Quotes

"A population, a country that venerates physical safety above all other values will ultimately give up its liberty and sanction any power seized by authority in exchange for the promise, no matter how illusory, of total security. However, absolute safety is itself chimeric, pursued by never obtained. The pursuit degrades those who engage in it as well as any nation that comes to be defined by it."  (Glenn Greenwald, "No Place to Hide", 2014)

"A prime justification for surveillance - that it’s for the benefit of the population - relies on projecting a view of the world that divides citizens into categories of good people and bad people. In that view, the authorities use their surveillance powers only against bad people, those who are “doing something wrong,” and only they have anything to fear from the invasion of their privacy."  (Glenn Greenwald, "No Place to Hide", 2014)

"Converting the Internet into a system of surveillance thus guts it of its core potential. Worse, it turns the Internet into a tool of repression, threatening to produce the most extreme and oppressive weapon of state intrusion human history has ever seen."  (Glenn Greenwald, "No Place to Hide", 2014)

"Democracy requires accountability and consent of the governed, which is only possible if citizens know what is being done in their name."  (Glenn Greenwald, "No Place to Hide", 2014)

"Far from hyperbole, that is the literal, explicitly stated aim of the surveillance state: to collect, store, monitor, and analyze all electronic communication by all people around the globe."  (Glenn Greenwald, "No Place to Hide", 2014)

"For many kids, the Internet is a means of self-actualization. It allows them to explore who they are and who they want to be, but that works only if we’re able to be private and anonymous, to make mistakes without them following us."  (Glenn Greenwald, "No Place to Hide", 2014)

"Technology has now enabled a type of ubiquitous surveillance that had previously been the province of only the most imaginative science fiction writers." (Glenn Greenwald, "No Place to Hide", 2014)

"The ability to eavesdrop on people’s communications vests immense power in those who do it. And unless such power is held in check by rigorous oversight and accountability, it is almost certain to be abused."  (Glenn Greenwald, "No Place to Hide", 2014)

"The principle which protects personal writings and all other personal productions, not against theft and physical appropriation, but against publication in any form, is in reality not the principle of private property, but that of an inviolate personality."  (Glenn Greenwald, "No Place to Hide", 2014)

"To permit surveillance to take root on the Internet would mean subjecting virtually all forms of human interaction, planning, and even thought itself to comprehensive state examination."  (Glenn Greenwald, "No Place to Hide", 2014)

"We all instinctively understand that the private realm is where we can act, think, speak, write, experiment, and choose how to be, away from the judgmental eyes of others. Privacy is a core condition of being a free person."  (Glenn Greenwald, "No Place to Hide", 2014)

"We shouldn't have to be faithful loyalists of the powerful to feel safe from state surveillance. Nor should the price of immunity be refraining from controversial or provocative dissent. We shouldn't want a society where the message is conveyed that you will be left alone only if you mimic the accommodating behavior and conventional wisdom of an establishment columnist."  (Glenn Greenwald, "No Place to Hide", 2014)

"What made the Internet so appealing was precisely that it afforded the ability to speak and act anonymously, which is so vital to individual exploration."  (Glenn Greenwald, "No Place to Hide", 2014)

OOP: Generalization (Definitions)

"The activity of identifying commonality among concepts and defining a superclass (general concept) and subclass (specialized concept) relationships. It is a way to construct taxonomic classifications among concepts which are then illustrated in class hierarchies." (Craig Larman, "Applying UML and Patterns: An Introduction to Object-Oriented Analysis and Design and the Unified Process", 1997)

"The activity of identifying commonality among concepts and defining a superclass (general concept) and subclass (specialized concept) relationships. It is a way to construct taxonomic classifications among concepts, which are then illustrated in class hierarchies. Conceptual subclasses conform to conceptual superclasses in terms of intension and extension." (Craig Larman, "Applying UML and Patterns", 2004)

"The process of forming a more comprehensive or less restrictive class (a superclass) from one or more entities (or classes, in Unified Modeling Language [UML])." (Sharon Allen & Evan Terry, "Beginning Relational Data Modeling 2nd Ed.", 2005)

"In extended ER model (EER model), generalization is a structure in which one object generally describes more specialized objects." (S. Sumathi & S. Esakkirajan, "Fundamentals of Relational Database Management Systems", 2007)

"A special type of abstraction relationship that specifies that several types of entities with certain common attributes can be generalized (or abstractly defined) with a higher-level entity type, a supertype entity; an 'is-a' type relationship. For example, employee is a generalization of engineer, manager, and administrative assistant, based on the common attribute job-title. A tool often used to make view integration possible." (Toby J Teorey, ", Database Modeling and Design" 4th Ed., 2010)

"In a specialization hierarchy, the grouping together of common attributes into a supertype entity. See specialization hierarchy." (Carlos Coronel et al, "Database Systems: Design, Implementation, and Management 9th Ed", 2011)

"The process of evaluating multiple relationships between entities in a set into fewer relationships. Usually necessary after other generalization activities have taken place, which carry the relationships of the specialized entities into the generalized entities. For example, two 1:M relationships between two entities, each having a different parent, can be generalized into a M:N relationship." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"The process of recognizing commonalities, and combining similar types of entities or objects into a less specialized type based on common attributes and behaviors, creating a supertype for two or more specialized subtypes. Contrast with specialization." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"The abstraction, reduction, and simplification of features and feature classes for deriving a simpler model of reality or decreasing stored." (GRC Data Intelligence)

OOP: Method (Definitions)

"A function that performs an action by using a component object model (COM) object, as in SQL-DMO, OLE DB, and ADO." (Microsoft Corporation, "SQL Server 7.0 System Administration Training Kit", 1999)

"A programmatic operation such as a procedure or function defined on an object type or class." (Bill Pribyl & Steven Feuerstein, "Learning Oracle PL/SQL", 2001)

"A callable set of execution instructions. Methods specify a contract; that is, they have a name, a number of parameters, and a return type. Clients that need to call a method must satisfy the contract when calling the method. Several kinds of methods are possible, such as instance and static." (Damien Watkins et al, "Programming in the .NET Environment", 2002)

"A procedure associated with a Java class or interface." (Peter Gulutzan & Trudy Pelzer, "SQL Performance Tuning", 2002)

"A procedure that belongs to a class and can be executed by sending a message to a class object or to instances from the class." (Stephen G Kochan, "Programming in Objective-C", 2003)

"Java code is organized into methods that are named and declared to have specific input parameters and return types. All methods are members of a class." (Marcus Green & Bill Brogden, "Java 2™ Programmer Exam Cram™ 2 (Exam CX-310-035)", 2003)

"In the UML, the specific implementation or algorithm of an operation for a class. Informally, the software procedure that can be executed in response to a message." (Craig Larman, "Applying UML and Patterns", 2004)

"Operations on an object that are exposed for use by other objects or applications." (Bob Bryla, "Oracle Database Foundations", 2004)

"A named collection of statements, with or without arguments, and a return value. A member of a class." (Michael Fitzgerald, "Learning Ruby", 2007)

"A function that is associated exclusively with an instance, either defined in a class, trait, or object definition. Methods can only be invoked using the object.method syntax." (Dean Wampler & Alex Payne, "Programming Scala", 2009)

"A program module that acts on objects created from a class in an object-oriented program." (Jan L Harrington, "SQL Clearly Explained" 3rd Ed., 2010)

"(1) A piece of code provided by an object, such as a control, that a program can call to make the object do something. (2) A routine (that may or may not return a value) provided by a class." (Rod Stephens, "Start Here! Fundamentals of Microsoft® .NET Programming", 2011)

"A function that is defined by a class and can only be invoked in the context of the class or one of its instances." (Dean Wampler, "Functional Programming for Java Developers", 2011)

"A procedure implemented by a class." (Rod Stephens, "Stephens' Visual Basic® Programming 24-Hour Trainer", 2011)

"A procedure that belongs to a class and can be executed by sending a message to a class object or to instances from the class." (Stephen G Kochan, "Programming in Objective-C, 4th Ed.", 2011)

"In the object-oriented data model, a named set of instructions to perform an action. Methods represent realworld actions. Methods are invoked through messages." (Carlos Coronel et al, "Database Systems: Design, Implementation, and Management" 9th Ed, 2011)

"In object-oriented design and programming, a function bound to a class as part of its overall behavior, executed in response to a message." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"A kind of action that an object can take if you tell it to." (Jon Orwant et al, "Programming Perl, 4th Ed.", 2012)

"In object-oriented programming, a named code block that performs a task when called." (SQL Server 2012 Glossary, "Microsoft", 2012)

"Defined and repetitive approach used to broach particular types of problems." (Gilbert Raymond & Philippe Desfray, "Modeling Enterprise Architecture with TOGAF", 2014)

"A named algorithm that defines one aspect of the behavior of a class" (Nell Dale & John Lewis, "Computer Science Illuminated, 6th Ed.", 2015)

"In object-oriented programming, a piece of code that makes an object do something." (Rod Stephens, "Beginning Software Engineering", 2015)

"The object-oriented programming term for a function or procedure." (Daniel Leuck et al, "Learning Java" 5th Ed., 2020)

🧿Stephen J Gould - Collected Quotes

"Facts do not ‘speak for themselves’; they are read in the light of theory. Creative thought, in science as much as in the arts, is the motor of changing opinion. Science is a quintessentially human activity, not a mechanized, robot-like accumulation of objective information, leading by laws of logic to inescapable interpretation." (Stephen J Gould, "Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History", 1977)

"Science, since people must do it, is a socially embedded activity. It progresses by hunch, vision, and intuition. Much of its change through time does not record a closer approach to absolute truth, but the alteration of cultural contexts that influence it so strongly. Facts are not pure and unsullied bits of information; culture also influences what we see and how we see it. Theories, moreover, are not inexorable inductions from facts. The most creative theories are often imaginative visions imposed upon facts; the source of imagination is also strongly cultural." (Stephen J Gould, "The Mismeasure of Man", 1980)

"Facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts do not go away while scientists debate rival theories for explaining them." (Stephen J Gould "Evolution as Fact and Theory", 1981)

"Perhaps randomness is not merely an adequate description for complex causes that we cannot specify. Perhaps the world really works this way, and many events are uncaused in any conventional sense of the word." (Stephen J Gould, "Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes", 1983)

"The progress of science requires more than new data; it needs novel frameworks and contexts. And where do these fundamentally new views of the world arise? They are not simply discovered by pure observation; they require new modes of thought. And where can we find them, if old modes do not even include the right metaphors? The nature of true genius must lie in the elusive capacity to construct these new modes from apparent darkness. The basic chanciness and unpredictability of science must also reside in the inherent difficulty of such a task." (Stephen J Gould, "The Flamingo's Smile: Reflections in Natural History", 1985)

"We often think, naïvely, that missing data are the primary impediments to intellectual progress - just find the right facts and all problems will dissipate. But barriers are often deeper and more abstract in thought. We must have access to the right metaphor, not only to the requisite information. Revolutionary thinkers are not, primarily, gatherers of facts, but weavers of new intellectual structures." (Stephen J Gould, "The Flamingo's Smile: Reflections in Natural History", 1985)

"Numbers have undoubted powers to beguile and benumb, but critics must probe behind numbers to the character of arguments and the biases that motivate them." (Stephen J Gould, "An Urchin in the Storm: Essays About Books and Ideas", 1987)

"But our ways of learning about the world are strongly influenced by the social preconceptions and biased modes of thinking that each scientist must apply to any problem. The stereotype of a fully rational and objective ‘scientific method’, with individual scientists as logical (and interchangeable) robots, is self-serving mythology." (Stephen J Gould, "This View of Life: In the Mind of the Beholder", "Natural History", Vol. 103, No. 2, 1994)

"Misunderstanding of probability may be the greatest of all impediments to scientific literacy." (Stephen J Gould, "Dinosaur in a  Haystack: Reflections in natural  history", 1995)

"Theories rarely arise as patient inferences forced by accumulated facts. Theories are mental constructs potentiated by complex external prods (including, in idealized cases, a commanding push from empirical reality)." (Stephen J Gould, "Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms", 1998) 

"The human mind delights in finding pattern - so much so that we often mistake coincidence or forced analogy for profound meaning. No other habit of thought lies so deeply within the soul of a small creature trying to make sense of a complex world not constructed for it." (Stephen J Gould, "The Flamingo's Smile: Reflections in Natural History", 2010)

🧿Robert M Pirsig - Collected Quotes

"An experiment is a failure only when it also fails adequately to test the hypothesis in question, when the data it produces don't prove anything one way or the other." (Robert M Pirsig, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", 1974)

"Laws of nature are human inventions, like ghosts. Laws of logic, or mathematics are also human inventions, like ghosts. The whole blessed thing is a human invention, including the idea that it isn't a human invention." (Robert M Pirsig, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", 1974)

"Quality is a direct experience independent of and prior to intellectual abstractions." (Robert M Pirsig, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", 1974)

"Technology presumes there's just one right way to do things and there never is." (Robert M Pirsig, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", 1974)

"The number of rational hypotheses that can explain any given phenomenon is infinite." (Robert M. Pirsig, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", 1974)

"The solutions all are simple - after you have arrived at them. But they're simple only when you know already what they are."(Robert M Pirsig, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", 1974)

"The world comes to us in an endless stream of puzzle pieces that we would like to think all fit together somehow, but that in fact never do."(Robert M Pirsig, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", 1974)

"Traditional scientific method has always been at the very best 20-20 hindsight. It's good for seeing where you've been. It's good for testing the truth of what you think you know, but it can't tell you where you ought to go." (Robert M Pirsig, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", 1974)

"When analytic thought, the knife, is applied to experience, something is always killed in the process." (Robert M Pirsig, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", 1974)

"Within a Metaphysics of Quality, science is a set of static intellectual patterns describing this reality, but the patterns are not the reality they describe." (Robert M Pirsig, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", 1974)

"Data without generalization is just gossip." (Robert M Pirsig, "Lila: An Inquiry into Morals", 1991)

🧿Abraham Kaplan - Collected Quotes

"Every discipline develops standards of professional competence to which its workers are subject. [...] Every scientific community is a society in the small, so to speak, with its own agencies of social control." (Abraham Kaplan, "The Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Science", 1964)

"Give a small boy a hammer, and he will find that everything he encounters needs pounding. It comes as no particular surprise to discover that a scientist formulates problems in a way which requires for their solution just those techniques in which he himself is especially skilled." (Abraham Kaplan, "The Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Science", 1964)

"Measurement, we have seen, always has an element of error in it. The most exact description or prediction that a scientist can make is still only approximate." (Abraham Kaplan, "The Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Science", 1964)

"The price of training is always a certain "trained incapacity": the more we know how to do something, the harder it is to learn to do it differently." (Abraham Kaplan, "The Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Science", 1964)

"[…] statistical techniques are tools of thought, and not substitutes for thought." (Abraham Kaplan, "The Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Science", 1964)

"We are caught up in a paradox, one which might be called the paradox of conceptualization. The proper concepts are needed to formulate a good theory, but we need a good theory to arrive at the proper concepts." (Abraham Kaplan, "The Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Science", 1964)

OOP: Contract (Definitions)

"A guarantee between a definer and a user. An example of a contract is the methods in an interface type. In adding the interface type to its definition, a type agrees to the contract specified by the interface type. Contracts vary from strictly enforceable, such as verifying that a function's signature conforms to a contract (syntax correctness), to assuming consistent behavior among classes implementing a common contract (semantic correctness). Semantic contracts are more difficult to specify and verify." (Damien Watkins et al, "Programming in the .NET Environment", 2002) 

[design by contract] "A paradigm stating that each software element (e.g., a method) specifies in a contract the pre-conditions it requires to run, the post-conditions it will ensure upon completion, and which invariants will remain." (Johannes Link & Peter Fröhlich, "Unit Testing in Java", 2003)

"Defines the responsibilities and postconditions that apply to the use of an operation or method. Also used to refer to the set of all conditions related to an interface." (Craig Larman, "Applying UML and Patterns", 2004)

"A service is usually described by an interface. The complete description of a service from a consumer’s point of view (signature and semantics) is called a 'well-defined interface' or contract." (Nicolai M Josuttis, "SOA in Practice", 2007)

"The complete description of a service interface between one consumer and one provider. It includes the technical interface (signature), the semantics, and nonfunctional aspects such as service-level agreements." (Nicolai M Josuttis, "SOA in Practice", 2007)

"A statement by the developer of a component about what the component does; users of the component rely on this statement to design systems using the component." (W Roy Schulte & K Chandy, "Event Processing: Designing IT Systems for Agile Companies", 2009)

"The protocol and requirements that exist between a module (e.g., class, trait, object, or even function or method) and clients of the module. More specifically, see Design by Contract." (Dean Wampler & Alex Payne, "Programming Scala", 2009)

[data contract:] "In WCF, a data contract is one that permits the definition of messages with multiple parameters." (Bruce Bukovics, "Pro WF: Windows Workflow in .NET 4", 2010)

[design by contract] "An approach to class and module design invented by Bertrand Meyer for the Eiffel language. For each entry point, valid inputs are specified in a programmatic way, so they can be validated during testing. These specifications are called preconditions. Similarly, assuming the preconditions are specified, specifications on the guaranteed results are called postconditions and are also specified in an executable way. Invariants can also be specified that should be true on entry and on exit." (Dean Wampler & Alex Payne, "Programming Scala", 2009)

🧿Marshall McLuhan - Collected Quotes

"When technology extends one of our senses, a new translation of culture occurs as swiftly as the new technology is interiorized." (Marshall McLuhan, "The Gutenberg Galaxy", 1962)

"Control over change would seem to consist in moving not with it but ahead of it. Anticipation gives the power to deflect and control force." (Marshall McLuhan, "Understanding Media", 1964)

"Environments are invisible. Their ground-rules, pervasive structure, and overall patterns elude easy perception." (Marshall McLuhan, "Understanding Media", 1964)

"It is experience, rather than understanding, that influences behaviour." (Marshall McLuhan, "Understanding Media", 1964)

"The 'message' of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs." (Marshall McLuhan, "Understanding Media", 1964)

"The products of modern science are not in themselves good or bad; it is the way they are used that determines their value." (Marshall McLuhan, "Understanding Media", 1964)

"The specialist is one who never makes small mistakes while moving towards the grand fallacy." (Marshall McLuhan, "Understanding Media", 1964)

"Environments are not just containers, but are processes that change the content totally." (Marshall McLuhan, American Scholar Vol. 35, 1965)

"Faced with information overload, we have no alternative but pattern-recognition."(Marshall McLuhan, "Counterblast", 1969)

"The future masters of technology will have to be lighthearted and intelligent. The machine easily masters the grim and the dumb." (Marshall McLuhan, "Counterblast", 1969)

"All discoveries in art and science result from an accumulation of errors." (Marshall McLuhan, "Culture Is Our Business", 1970)

"Computers can do better than ever what needn't be done at all. Making sense is still a human monopoly." (Marshall McLuhan, "Take Today: The Executive as Dropout", 1972)

ransportation of data from point to point." (Marshall McLuhan & Eric McLuhan, "Laws of Media: The New Science", 1988)

"Without an understanding of causality there can be no theory of communication. What passes as information theory today is not communication at all, but merely transportation." (Marshall McLuhan & Eric McLuhan, "Laws of Media: The New Science", 1988)

"One of the effects of living with electric information is that we live habitually in a state of information overload. There's always more than you can cope with." (Marshall McLuhan, "Understanding Me: Lectures and Interviews" , 2003)

"Without an understanding of causality there can be no theory of communication. What passes as information theory today is not communication at all, but merely transportation." (Marshall McLuhan, "The Book of Probes : Marshall McLuhan", 2011) 

"As information becomes our environment, it becomes mandatory to program the environment itself as a work of art." (Marshall McLuhan)

"By simply moving information and brushing information against information, any medium whatever creates vast wealth." (Marshall McLuhan)

"Effects are perceived, whereas causes are conceived. Effects always precede causes in the actual developmental order." (Marshall McLuhan)

"When new technologies impose themselves on societies long habituated to older technologies, anxieties of all kinds result." (Marshall McLuhan)

OOP: Polymorphism (Definitions)

"Literally, from the Greek for many forms, and refers to the ability of different objects to respond differently to the same commands." (Greg Perry, "Sams Teach Yourself Beginning Programming in 24 Hours" 2nd Ed., 2001)

"The ability to treat many sub-types as if they were of the same base type." (Jesse Liberty, "Sams Teach Yourself C++ in 24 Hours" 3rd Ed., 2001)

"The capability of objects from different classes to accept the same message." (Stephen G Kochan, "Programming in Objective-C", 2003)

"The concept that two or more classes of objects can respond to the same message in different ways, using polymorphic operations. Also, the ability to define polymorphic operations." (Craig Larman, "Applying UML and Patterns", 2004)

"In object-oriented design, the principle that the same definition can be used with different types of data (specifically, different class implementations), resulting in more general and abstract implementations." (David C Hay, "Data Model Patterns: A Metadata Map", 2010)

"The redefinition of the body of a superclass method inherited by a subclass. The polymorphic method retains the same signature." (Jan L Harrington, "SQL Clearly Explained" 3rd Ed., 2010)

"The ability of a piece of code to work with more than one type." (Mark C Lewis, "Introduction to the Art of Programming Using Scala", 2012)

"The notion that you can tell an object to do something generic, and the object will interpret the command in different ways depending on its type." (Jon Orwant et al, "Programming Perl, 4th Ed.", 2012)

"The ability of a language to determine at runtime which of several possible methods will be executed for a given invocation" (Nell Dale & John Lewis, "Computer Science Illuminated" 6th Ed., 2015)

"The ability to treat a child object as if it were actually from a parent class. For example, it lets you treat a Student object as if it were a Person object because a Student is a type of Person." (Rod Stephens, "Beginning Software Engineering", 2015)

"Two objects can receive the same input and have different outputs." (Adam Gordon, "Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK" 4th Ed., 2015)

"The ability of an object variable to reference objects of different classes at different times during the execution of a program" (Nell Dale et al, "Object-Oriented Data Structures Using Java" 4th Ed., 2016)

"One of the fundamental principles of an object-oriented language. Polymorphism states that a type that extends another type is a “kind of” the parent type and can be used interchangeably with the original type by augmenting or refining its capabilities." (Daniel Leuck et al, "Learning Java" 5th Ed., 2020)

🧿Albert Einstein - Collected Quotes

“As soon as science has emerged from its initial stages, theoretical advances are no longer achieved merely by a process of arrangement. Guided by empirical data, the investigator rather develops a system of thought which, in general, is built up logically from a small number of fundamental assumptions, the so-called axioms. We call such a system of thought a theory. The theory finds the justification for its existence in the fact that it correlates a large number of single observations, and it is just here that the 'truth' of the theory lies. “ (Albert Einstein: “Relativity: The Special and General Theory”, 1916)

“No fairer destiny could be allotted to any physical theory, than that it should of itself point out the way to the introduction of a more comprehensive theory, in which it lives on as a limiting case.” (Albert Einstein: “Relativity, The Special and General Theory”, 1916)

“It can scarcely be denied that the supreme goal of all theory is to make the irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience.” (Albert Einstein, [lecture] 1933)

"Most of the fundamental ideas of science are essentially simple, and may, as a rule, be expressed in a language comprehensible to everyone."  (Albert Einstein & Leopold Infeld, ”The Evolution of Physics”, 1938) 

"A theory is the more impressive the greater the simplicity of its premises is, the more different kinds of things it relates, and the more extended its area of applicability." (Albert Einstein, "Autobiographical Notes", 1949)

“The mere formulation of a problem is often far more essential than its solution. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science.” (Albert Einstein)

"To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science." (Albert Einstein)

“We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.” (Albert Einstein)