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The Information

Page 57

by James Gleick


  in origins of governance

  Shannon’s diagram of, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3

  as stochastic process

  symbolic logic to describe systems of

  system elements, 7.1, 7.2

  in Twitter, epl.1, epl.2

  see also talking drums; telegraphy; telephony; transmission of information

  compact disc, prl.1, 8.1, epl.1

  complexity, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4, 12.5, 12.6, 12.7, 12.8, 12.9

  compression of information; see data compression

  “Computable Numbers, On” (Turing), 7.1, 7.2, 12.1

  computation

  in Babylonian mathematics, 2.1, 2.2

  computable and uncomputable numbers, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3

  of differential equations, 4.1, 4.2

  in evolution of complex structures

  human computers, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3

  thermodynamics of, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13.4

  Turing machine for, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6

  see also calculators; computers

  computer(s)

  analog and digital, 8.1, 8.2

  chess-playing, 8.1, 8.2

  comparison to humans, 8.1, 8.2

  cost of memory storage

  cost of work of, 13.1, 13.2

  early mechanical, prl.1, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6, 8.1

  growth of memory and processing speed of, 14.1, 14.2, 14.3, 14.4

  inductive learning in

  perception of thinking by, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4

  public awareness of

  quantum-based, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13.4

  Shannon’s information theory in, prl.1, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, 8.2

  significance of information theory in development of

  spread of memes through

  Turing’s conceptualization of, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3

  universe as, 14.1, 14.2

  see also calculators; computation; programming

  Conference on Cybernetics, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, 8.8, 8.9, 8.10, 8.11, 8.12

  Connolly, Sean J.

  consciousness, 2.1, 2.2, 8.1, 8.2, epl.1, epl.2, epl.3

  continuous signal systems, 6.1, 7.1

  Cooke, William, 5.1, 5.2

  Cooper, Pat

  Coote, Edmund

  Coy, George W.

  Crick, Francis, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5

  Crow, James F. n

  cryptography

  assessment of system security

  Babbage’s work in, 5.1, 5.2

  early strategies, 5.1, 5.2

  Enigma system of, 7.1, 7.2

  information theory and

  mathematics of, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 7.1, 7.2

  mental skill for

  pattern recognition in, 7.1, 7.2

  perfect cipher system

  popular interest in, 5.1, 5.2

  quantum, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13.4

  RSA encryption

  Shannon’s work on, prl.1, prl.2, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6

  Turing’s work on, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4

  voice encryption, 7.1, 7.2

  writing and, 5.1, 5.2

  see also code

  crystals, 9.1, 9.2, 10.1

  culture

  communication technology and, 15.1, 15.2, 15.3

  communicative capacity of drums, 1.1, 1.2

  function of meme

  perceptions changed by telegraphy, 5.1, 5.2

  replication and transmission of

  thought processes biased by, 2.1, 2.2

  see also oral culture

  Cummings, E. E., 6.1, 8.1

  cuneiform, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7

  Cunningham, Michael

  cybernetics, prl.1, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, 12.1, 12.2

  Cybernetics (Wiener), 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 9.1

  cyberspace, 13.1, epl.1

  capacity for transmitting information, 3.1, 3.2

  concepts of literacy and orality in

  connectivity in, epl.1, epl.2

  naming issues, 14.1, 14.2, 14.3

  online version of Oxford English Dictionary, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3

  paradox of distance in

  see also Internet

  Daguerre, Louis

  Dancoff, Sidney

  Darwin, Charles, 4.1, 10.1

  data compression, prl.1, prl.2, prl.3, 5.1, 5.2, 8.1, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4

  Davy, Edward, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2

  Dawkins, Richard, prl.1, prl.2, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, 11.5, 11.6, 11.7

  de Back, James

  decision problem, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4

  definitions of words

  interlocking and circular nature of, 3.1, 3.2

  in perfect language

  scientific progress and, prl.1, prl.2, 3.1, 3.2

  see also dictionaries

  Delbrück, Max, 10.1, 10.2

  Deletionpedia, 14.1, 14.2

  Democritus

  De Morgan, Augustus, 4.1, 5.1, 15.1

  Dennett, Daniel, 10.1, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 15.1, 15.2

  deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), prl.1, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, 10.7

  diamond code, 10.1, 10.2

  Dibdin, Charles

  Dickens, Charles, 4.1n, 14.1

  dictionaries, 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.13; see also Oxford English Dictionary

  Dictionarium (Thomas)

  Diderot, Denis, 14.1, epl.1

  Difference Engine, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7, 4.8, 4.9, 4.10, 4.11, 4.12, 4.13, 4.14, 4.15, 6.1

  Differential Analyzer, prl.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 8.1

  Differential and Integral Calculus (Lacroix)

  differential equations, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3

  “Digital Computers Called Brains, Of” (McCulloch)

  digital technology, 6.1, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 12.1

  Diringer, David

  discrete information, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2, 12.1

  D’Israeli, Isaac

  Disreali, Benjamin

  distortion of signal; see noise

  DNA; see deoxyribonucleic acid

  “Does One Sometimes Know Too Much?,” 15.1

  domain names, 14.1, 14.2

  Donne, John

  Doob, Joseph L.

  Dowd, Maureen

  Doyle, Arthur Conan

  Dretske, Fred, 11.1, epl.1, ind.1

  drums; see talking drums

  Dupuy, Jean-Pierre, epl.1, epl.2, epl.3

  Dyer, Harrison Gray

  echo

  Eckart, Carl

  Eckert, W. H.

  economics

  Babbage’s research on, 4.1, 4.2

  business of telegraphy, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5

  commercial interest in telegraphy, 5.1, 5.2

  commercial interest in telephony, 6.1, 6.2

  cost of computation, 13.1, 13.2

  costs of computer memory

  in information cloud

  as information science

  of number table production, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4

  origins of mathematics and

  Edison, Thomas A., 5.1, 12.1

  Edwards, Mary

  Egypt, 3.1, 3.2

  Einstein, Albert, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 9.1, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13.4

  Eisenstein, Elizabeth, 15.1, 15.2, 15.3

  electrical circuits

  development of telegraphy, 1.1, 1.2

  noise in, 6.1, 7.1

  symbolic logic and, prl.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5

  transmission capacity of, 6.1, 6.2

  electricity

  amplitude modulation, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3

  biological analogies for

  evolution of scientific understanding of, 5.1, 5.2

  in measurement of communication

  public response to new technologies of

  recognition of communication potential of, 5.1, 5.2

  source of noise in

  technical demands of telephony, 6.1, 6.2

  see also electri
cal circuits; telegraphy

  Electric Telegraph Company, 5.1, 5.2

  Elements of Electro-Biology (Smee)

  Elias, Peter, 8.1, 8.2

  Eliot, T. S., 3.1, 15.1

  Elyot, Thomas

  e-mail, 2.1, 11.1, 11.2, 14.1, 15.1, 15.2, 15.3

  Emerson, Ralph Waldo

  Encyclopaedia Britannica, 7.1, 14.1, 14.2, 14.3, 14.4, epl.1

  encyclopedias, prl.1, epl.1, epl.2; see also specific encyclopedia

  Encyclopédie, 14.1

  Enderton, Herbert

  energy

  in concept of entropy, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3

  cost of information processing, 13.1, 13.2

  information and, prl.1, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 13.1

  Maxwell’s demon, 8.1, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4, 9.5, 9.6, 9.7, 9.8, 9.9, 10.1, 13.1, 13.2, 15.1, epl.1

  perpetual motion machine, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3

  in physics of black holes

  see also thermodynamics

  England, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 8.1, 8.2; see also English language

  English Expositour, An (Bullokar)

  English language

  earliest dictionaries, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 3.10, 3.11

  evolution of, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3

  growth of, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3

  number of speakers of, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3

  Oxford English Dictionary of, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 3.10, 3.11

  phonemes of, 1.1, 1.2

  redundancy in, 1.1, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, 8.2

  spelling of words in, 3.1, 3.2

  statistical analysis, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3

  use of tonality in

  vocabulary size

  English Schoolemaister, The (Coote)

  ENIAC

  Enigma code, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4

  entanglement, prl.1, 1.1, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13.4, 13.5

  entelechy

  entropy, prl.1, 8.1

  concept of mind and

  definition of, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3

  as disorder

  dissipation of energy in, 9.1, 9.2

  information as, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, 9.1, 12.1, 12.2

  information to reduce, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4, 9.5, 9.6, 9.7

  of language

  mathematical complexity and

  Maxwell’s demon, 8.1, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4, 9.5, 9.6, 9.7, 9.8, 9.9, 10.1, 13.1, 13.2, 15.1, epl.1

  measurement of

  as measure of uncertainty, 9.1, 9.2

  movement of universe toward, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4

  orderliness of biological life and, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4

  randomness and

  in thermodynamics of computation

  Entscheidungsproblem, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4

  enzymes, 9.1, 10.1, 10.2

  Ephrussi, Boris

  Epimenides’ paradox

  epistemology

  erasure of information, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 14.1

  error correction

  applications of Shannon’s theories

  in artillery targeting

  in early telegraphic code systems, 5.1, 5.2

  in genetic code

  to overcome noise, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1

  redundancy for, 7.1, 7.2

  in talking drum language

  in telegraphy

  errors, in logarithmic tables, 4.1, 4.2

  Erya, 3.1

  evolution

  as computational process

  emergence of global consciousness as

  gene interactions and, 10.1, 10.2

  of genes, 10.1, 10.2

  of ideas

  information processing in

  role of altruistic behavior in, 10.1, 10.2

  evolutionary biology, 10.1, 11.1

  Ex-Prodigy (Wiener)

  Extrapolation, Interpolation, and Smoothing of Stationary Time Series (Wiener, Bigelow)

  factoring algorithm, 13.1, 13.2

  Fano, Robert, 7.1, 7.2, 12.1

  Faraday, Michael, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2

  feedback, 5.1, 6.1, 8.1, 8.2, 10.1

  Feynman, Richard, 9.1, 10.1, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13.4

  file storage technology

  fire beacons

  fire-control; see antiaircraft guns and artillery

  FitzRoy, Robert, 5.1, 5.2

  Ford, Joseph, 12.1, 12.2

  Formal Logic (De Morgan)

  Foundations of the Theory of Probability (Kolmogorov)

  Four Great Books of Song, epl.1

  France, 3.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8

  Frank, Lawrence K., 8.1, 8.2

  Franklin, Benjamin

  Freeman, Thomas, 15.1, 15.2

  Freud, Sigmund, 8.1, 9.1

  Frost, Robert

  Fry, Thornton C., 6.1, 6.2

  Fuchs, Christopher, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3

  Fuchs, Ulrich

  Gabor, Dennis

  Galileo, 1.1, 1.2, 3.1

  galvanometer, 5.1, 5.2

  games, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6

  game theory

  Gamow, George, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5

  Gauss, Carl Friedrich

  General Electric

  genetics

  altruistic behavior and, 10.1, 10.2

  aperiodic crystal model of, 9.1, 10.1

  coding system, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, 10.7, 10.8, 10.9, 10.10

  development of scientific concepts of, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5

  discovery of DNA, 10.1, 10.2

  gene structure and function, 9.1, 9.2, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, 10.7, 10.8, 10.9, 10.10, 10.11, 10.12, 10.13, 10.14

  genome mapping

  as information science, prl.1, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, 10.7

  information storage in, 7.1, 7.2

  memetics and

  Schrödinger’s formulation of, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3

  selfish gene concept, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 11.1

  symbolic logic to describe, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3

  Gerard, Ralph, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4

  Gibbs, Willard

  Gibson, William

  Gilgamesh

  Gilliver, Peter, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3

  Glossographia: or a Dictionary (Blount), 3.1, 3.2

  Gödel, Kurt, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 10.1, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, epl.1

  Gödel’s Proof (Nagel, Newman)

  Godfather (film)

  “Gold Bug, The” (Poe)

  Gongsun Long

  Google, 11.1, 14.1, 14.2, 15.1, epl.1, epl.2

  Gould, Glenn, 12.1, 12.2

  Gould, Stephen Jay

  gravity, 13.1, 13.2, 14.1

  Gray, Elisha

  Great Exhibition of 1851 (London)

  Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 12.1

  Greece, 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6

  Grover, Lov

  Guare, John, epl.1, epl.2

  Gutenberg Galaxy (McLuhan)

  Guyot, Jules

  Hamilton, W. D., 11.1, 11.2

  Hammurabi

  Hardy, G. H.

  Hardy-Ramanujan number

  Hart, Sarah

  Hartley, Ralph, 1.1, 1.2, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1

  Harvard University, 8.1, 8.2, 9.1

  Hatto, Joyce

  Havelock, Eric, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3

  Hawking, Stephen, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3

  Hawthorne, Nathaniel

  heat, 8.1, 13.1, 13.2; see also thermodynamics

  Hein, Jon

  Heisenberg, Werner, 7.1, 12.1, 13.1

  Hennig, Richard

  Henry, Joseph

  Herschel, John, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3

  hieroglyphics, 2.1, 8.1

  Hilbert, David, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3

  Hobbes, Thomas, prl.1, 2.1

  Hofstadter, Douglas R., 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1, 10.1, 10.2, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 11.4

  Holland, Owen

  Holmes, Oliver Wendell

  holography

  Homeric epics, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 11.1

  Huffman, David

  Huffman coding

 
; Humphrey, Nicholas

  Husbands, Philip

  Husson, M.

  I Am a Mathematician (Wiener)

  iatroepidemics

  IBM, 8.1, 9.1, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13.4, 14.1, 14.2

  ideas, compared to biosphere, 11.1, 11.2; see also memes

  idiographic writing

  Iliad (Homer)

  images

  compressibility of

  memes as

  recording of, 14.1, 14.2

  imagination, 2.1n, 4.1, 4.2, 7.1

  Imitation Game (Turing), 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4

  incompleteness theorem

  algorithmic proof of randomness and, 12.1, 12.2

  chaos theory and, 12.1, 12.2

  decision problem and, 7.1, 7.2

  proof of, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3

  significance of, 6.1, 6.2

  Turing machine and

  indexes, 15.1, 15.2, epl.1, epl.2, epl.3

  inductive reasoning

  Infinities, The (Banville)

  “Information Is Inevitably Physical” (Landauer)

  “Information Is Physical” (Landauer)

  information overload

  in Borges’s “Library of Babel,” 14.1

  e-mail and, 15.1, 15.2

  filter and search strategies to prevent, 15.1, 15.2

  historical fears of, 15.1, 15.2, 15.3

  human–computer comparison of effects of

  knowledge and, 15.1, 15.2

  manifestations of, 15.1, 15.2, 15.3

  meaning and, epl.1, epl.2, epl.3, epl.4

  psychological studies of, 15.1, 15.2

  technological progress and, prl.1, 15.1, 15.2, 15.3, 15.4

  information theory

  attempts to add semantic counterpart to

  on control of redundancy in messages, 7.1, 7.2

  cryptography and

  development in England, 8.1, 8.2

  diagram of communication in, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3

  genetic science and, prl.1, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, 10.7

  language as possibility in, epl.1, epl.2

  measurement of information in, 7.1, 7.2

  message value in, 12.1-3.1

  noise source in, 7.1, 7.2

  origins of, prl.1, prl.2, prl.3, prl.4, 7.1; see also Mathematical Theory of Communication, The (Shannon, Weaver)

  physics and, prl.1, prl.2, prl.3

  place of meaning in, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, epl.1, epl.2

  response of wider scientific community to, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, 8.8, 8.9

  response to Shannon’s initial publication, 8.1, 8.2

  significance of, prl.1, prl.2, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3

  in Soviet Union, 12.1, 12.2

  system states in

  theories of psychology and, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7

  see also quantum information science

  Internet, 11.1, 11.2, epl.1, epl.2, epl.3

  It from Bit (Wheeler), prl.1, 13.1

  Jacobson, Homer

  Jacquard, Joseph-Marie

  Jacquard loom, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 12.1

  James, William, 8.1, 8.2

  János, Neumann; see John von Neumann

  Jaynes, Julian, 2.1, 2.2

 

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