http://www.metafilter.com/tags/informationtheory Posts tagged with 'informationtheory' at MetaFilter. Tue, 06 May 2008 05:57:07 -0800 Tue, 06 May 2008 05:57:07 -0800 en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 http://www.metafilter.com/71421/01010010%2D01001001%2D01010000 If you are reading this post on a computer attached to the Internet, you can thank <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=z2Whj_nL-x8&feature=related">Claude Shannon</a> (1916-<a href="http://www.metafilter.com/6138/">2001</a>). It was his work, starting with <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/131667/A-Mathematical-Theory-of-Communication">A Mathematical Theory of Communication</a>, that first enabled humans to extract digital perfection from the analog world by creating the field of <a href="http://csunplugged.com/index.php/information-theory.html">Information Theory</a>. Like most computer nerds of his day, who often had to program their computers by moving wires around or even <a href="http://www.dalefield.com/nzfmm/magazine/Differential_Analyser.html">mechanical linkages</a>, he was also an electronics and mechanical whiz who could create a <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=sBHGzRxfeJY">juggling robot</a> and <a href="http://www.kugelbahn.ch/sesam_e.htm">The Ultimate Machine</a>. tag:metafilter.com,2008:site.71421 Tue, 06 May 2008 05:57:07 -0800 binary claudeshannon differentialanalyzer digital informationtheory juggling robot ultimatemachine DU http://www.metafilter.com/50105/Who%2Dcan%2Dname%2Dthe%2Dbigger%2Dnumber <a href="http://www.scottaaronson.com/writings/bignumbers.html">Who can name the bigger number?</a> I guarantee you will lose to the Busy Beavers. (No, infinity is not allowed, the bigger infinity is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleph_number">different game.</a>) The author also <a href="http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/2006/02/lord-send-no-sign.html">debunks</a> in very simple terms the recent story that quantum computers perform calculations <a href="http://www.news.uiuc.edu/news/06/0222quantum.html">without being turned on</a>. My first post and disclaimer: I know the author from our mutual field of <a href="http://www.cs.caltech.edu/~westside/quantum-intro.html">quantum information</a>. tag:metafilter.com,2006:site.50105 Thu, 16 Mar 2006 00:16:49 -0800 computerscience informationtheory math numbertheory quantum gregv