I work at a tech company, and during lunch, I like to read interesting papers.
While my colleagues chat about the latest news, I notice how often they begin with "They say that," a phrase that openly signals the influence of media on their ideas.
For me, genuine knowledge lies either in the solid foundation of school textbooks or in the insights found in research papers.
In academia, certain papers have achieved renown, either because they underpin discoveries or because they've been widely referenced, even simplified, in mainstream media.
I find it difficult to find those papers. Here are a few :
Driven by compression progress
On the universal relation
The unbearable slowness of being
The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual
Web Search Engine
A Mathematical Theory of Communication
Universal Algorithmic Intelligence
Computing Machinery And Intelligence
And here are some interesting articles :
Wealth. Paul Graham.
Human Life.