What Just Happened: A Chronicle From the Information Frontier

  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

  Jennings, Allan

  Johannsen, Wilhelm

  John of Salisbury

  Johnson, John B.

  Johnson, Samuel, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4

  Johnstone, James

  Joncourt, Élie de, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3

  Jones, Alexander

  Jonsson, Lars

  Jowett, Benjamin

  Judson, Horace Freeland

  Just, Ward

  Kahn, David

  Karinthy, Frigyes

  Kele language, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3

  Kelvin, William Thomson, Lord

  Kepler, Johannes

  Kermode, Frank, 2.1, 2.2

  Keynes, John Maynard

  Khwarizmi, Abu Abdullah Mohammad Ibn Musa al-

  Kierkegaard, Søren

  King, August Ada; see Lovelace, Ada

  King, William

  Klüver, Heinrich

  knowledge

  curse of omniscience, epl.1, epl.2

  emergence of global consciousness, epl.1, epl.2, epl.3

  epistemological theory of information

  information overload and, 15.1, 15.2, 15.3

  limits to scientific investigation, 12.1, 12.2

  in literate cultures, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6

  power of

  as product of logic

  requirements for communication, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3

  transmission of, through human history, prl.1, prl.2

  Knuth, Donald, 2.1, 2.2

  Kolmogorov, Andrei Nikolaevich, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4, 12.5, 12.6, 12.7, 12.8

  Kolmogorov-Chaitin complexity, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4

  Konversations-Lexikon, epl.1

  Lacroix, Sylvestre François

  Lagrange, Joseph Louis

  Landauer, Rolf, 13.1, 13.2

  Landowska, Wanda

  Landsberg, Peter

  Lane, Anthony, 15.1, 15.2

  language

  adaptations for telegraphy, 5.1, 5.2

  Babbage’s work on, 4.1, 4.2

  compressibility of

  concept of mind and

  for discussing language, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1

  functions of, 5.1, 5.2

  as infinite possibility, epl.1, epl.2

  limitations of

  measuring redundancy in, 1.1, 1.2, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3

  paradoxes of, 2.1, 2.2, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3

  pattern analysis

  perfect

  redundancy in, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 5.1, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 12.1

  as shared experience

  statistical structure of, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4

  symbolic expression of, 5.1, 5.2

  technical, 3.1, 3.2

  transmission capacity of Internet and, 3.1, 3.2

  universal, 4.1, 6.1

  see also oral culture; writing; specific language

  Language Instinct, The (Pinker), 3.1, 3.2

  Lanier, Jaron

  Laplace, Pierre-Simon, 14.1, 14.2

  Lardner, Dionysius, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 5.1, 5.2

  Lasker, Edward

  Latin language, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4

  Lawrence Livermore Laboratory

  Laws of Thought, The (Boole), 5.1, 5.2

  Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 15.1, epl.1

  Lem, Stanislaw

  Le Roy, Édouard

  Le Sage, Georges-Louis

  Lever, Ralph

  Levor, Norma, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3

  Leyland numbers

  Li, Ming, 11.1, 11.2

  liar’s paradox

  libraries, organization of materials in, 3.1, 3.2, 15.1

  Library of Alexandria, 14.1, 14.2

  “Library of Babel, The” (Borges), 14.1, 14.2, 15.1, epl.1, epl.2

  Library of Congress, 7.1, 14.1, 14.2, epl.1

  Licklider, J. C. R., 8.1, 8.2

  life

  definition of, 9.1, 9.2

  entropy and, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4

  origins of, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 11.1

  as vehicle for propagating memes

  see also biology

  lighthouses

  Linnaeus, Carl

  Littlewood, J. E.

  Lloyd, Seth, prl.1, 13.1, 14.1

  Locke, John

  Loewenstein, Werner, prl.1, 10.1

  Logarithmicall Arithmetike (Briggs)

  logarithms, 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, 4.16, 4.17, 4.18, 4.19, 4.20, 4.21, 7.1, 7.2

  Logarithms (Taylor)

  logic

  circularity problem of words, 3.1, 3.2

  concept of machines using, 7.1, 7.2

  form of thinking for, 2.1, 2.2

  function of, 2.1, 2.2

  origins and early development of, 2.1, 2.2

  paradoxes of, 2.1, 2.2, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3

  thought and, 5.1, 5.2

  writing and, 2.1, 2.2

  see also symb
olic logic

  logical depth, 12.1, 12.2

  logographic writing

  Lokele tribe

  longitude, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2

  Lovelace, Ada, 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, 5.1, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3

  background of, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3

  exposition on Menabrea’s essay, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5

  illnesses and death of, 4.1, 4.2

  mathematics studied by, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4

  Luria, Aleksandr Romanovich, 2.1, 2.2

  Lyell, Charles

  Lysenko, Trofim

  Ma, Bin, 11.1, 11.2

  machines

  Analytical 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, 6.1, 7.1, 8.1

  attribution of thinking to, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, 8.8

  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, 4.16, 4.17, 4.18, 6.1

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

  Enigma, 7.1, 7.2

  Imitation Game to identify humans from, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4

  Jacquard loom, 4.1, 4.2

  maze-navigating robot, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4

  memory function in

  to prove computability of numbers, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6

  purposeful behavior of

  self-replicating, 8.1, 8.2

  standardization of manufacturing

  see also calculators; computer(s); Turing machine(s)

  Mackay, Charles

  macrostates, 9.1, 9.2

  “Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two, The” (Miller)

  magnetism, 1.1, 1.2, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 6.2

  Mani, Anand Ramnath, 14.1, 14.2

  Mantel, Hillary

  maps and mapping, 4.1, 7.1, 14.1

  Mark I computer

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology, prl.1, prl.2, prl.3, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 8.1, 8.2, 12.1, 14.1, epl.1

  Mathematical Analysis of Logic (Boole)

  Mathematical Theory of Communication, The (Shannon, Weaver), prl.1, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 7.7, 7.8, 7.9, 7.10, 7.11, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, epl.1

  “Mathematical Theory of Cryptography, A” (Shannon)

  mathematics

  Babbage’s Cambridge studies in, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5

  Bablyonian, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6

  ballistics modeling, 6.1, 6.2

  code analysis

  of cryptography, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 7.1, 7.2

  desire for certainty in

  differential equations, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3

  engineering and, 6.1, 6.2

  expression of logic through

  incompleteness theorem, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3

  to purge logic of paradox

  search for perfect expression in

  in signal research at Bell Labs, prl.1, prl.2

  in telephone switching technology, 6.1, 6.2

  uses of random numbers in

  see also logarithms; numbers

  Maxwell, James Clerk, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 8.1, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4, 9.5, 9.6, 9.7

  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

  Maynard Smith, John

  McCarthy, John

  McCulloch, Warren, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5

  McLuhan, Marshall, prl.1, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 8.1, 15.1, epl.1

  Mead, Margaret

  meaning

  in agenda for quantum information science

  attempts to incorporate, into information theory

  expressed through differences

  future of science and

  information overload and, epl.1, epl.2, epl.3, epl.4

  language and, epl.1, epl.2

  measurement of communication and

  of numbers

  in perfect language

  Shannon’s information theory and, prl.1, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, epl.1, epl.2

  symbolic logic and, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1

  talking drum method of conveying, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3

  use of alphabetical ordering systems and

  use of tonality to convey

  see also definitions of words

  measurement of information

  algorithmic, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4

  combinatorial approach to

  conceptual evolution of, prl.1, prl.2, prl.3, prl.4, prl.5, prl.6, prl.7, 1.1, 6.1, 6.2

  cosmic calculations, prl.1, prl.2, 14.1

  expanding scale of, 14.1, 14.2, 14.3, 14.4

  measurement of message value and, 12.1, 12.2

  measurement of randomness and

  as measure of uncertainty, 7.1, 9.1, 9.2

  in music, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3

  probabilistic approach to, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 8.1, 12.1

  in psychology research

  quantifying redundancy for, 1.1, 1.2, 7.1, 7.2

  quantizing speech for

  symbols as unit for, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3

  in telephony, prl.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5

  Turing’s approach to, 7.1, 7.2

  see also bit(s)

  Medawar, Peter

  meme(s); memetics

  catchphrases as, 11.1, 11.2

  chain letters as, 11.1-1.1

  conceptual origins of, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 11.4

  definition of, prl.1, 11.1, 11.2

  disease analogy for, 11.1, 11.2

  effects

  forms of, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3

  genetic model of

  humans as vehicles for

  ideas as

  images as

  as living structures

  mission of

  music as

  replication through imitation

  scholarly research on, 11.1, 11.2

  transmission of, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3

  memory

  aids in oral literature

  computer, cost of

  evolution of information technology and, 15.1, 15.2, 15.3

  in machine functions

  in maze-navigating machine, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4

  meme strategies

  psychology research on, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4

  quantum erasure of

  writing and, 2.1, 2.2

  Menabrea, Luigi

  Mencken, H. L., 3.1, 11.1

  Mendel, Gregor

  Mercury: or the Secret and Swift Messenger (Wilkins)

  Merlin, John

  Mermin, David, 13.1n, 13.2

  Merrill, James

  messenger RNA, 11.1, 13.1

  meta-language

  Metalogicon

  metamathematics, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 10.1, 12.1

  metaphor

  “Method of Expressing by Signs the Action of Machinery, On a” (Babbage), 4.1, 4.2

  Metropolis, Nicholas

  microfilm

  microstates, 9.1, 9.2

  Middleton, Thomas

  Milbanke, Anna Isabella

  Milgram, Stanley

  Miller, George, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3

  Miller, Jonathan, 2.1, 2.2

  Million Random Digits, A, 12.1, 12.2

  Milton, John, 3.1, 11.1

  Mingjia (School of Names)

  Minsky, Marvin

  Miot de Melito, Count n

  Mitchell, David

  mondegreens, 3.1, 3.2

  Monod, Jacques

  Monte Carlo simulations, 11.1, 12.1

  Moore, Francis

  Moore, Gordon

  Morse, Samuel F. B., 1.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6

  Morse code, prl.1, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 5.1, 6.1, 11.1, 12.1

  mortality tables, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3

  Mulcaster, Richard

  multiplexed signals

  Mumford, Lewis

  Munch, Edvard

  Murray, James, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6

  music, 10.1, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4

  Nagel, Ernest

  naming, 2.1, 14
.1, 14.2, 14.3, 14.4, 14.5, 14.6

  Napier, John, 4.1, 4.2

  Napoleon Bonaparte, 5.1, 5.2

  National Defense Research Committee

  natural history, 14.1, 14.2

  natural philosophy, prl.1, prl.2, 3.1

  natural selection, 5.1, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 11.1; see also evolution

  Nature, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, epl.1

  Nautical Almanac, 4.1, 4.2

  navigation, number tables for, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3

  needle telegraphy, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6

  networks

  applications of Shannon’s theories, 8.1, 8.2

  barbed-wire telephone

  biological analogies for electrical

  cloud processing

  clustering in

  collective judgment and behavior enabled by, epl.1, epl.2

  e-mail

  emergence of global consciousness, epl.1, epl.2, epl.3

  English poetry

  global information in, epl.1, epl.2

  science of

  small-world, epl.1, epl.2

  spread of memes through

  telegraphic, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.1

  telephone, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4

  see also cyberspace; Internet

  Neugebauer, Otto

  neurophysiology

  analog versus digital descriptions of, 8.1, 8.2

  concept of human global organism, epl.1, epl.2, epl.3

  feedback systems in, 8.1, 8.2

  human–computer comparison, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3

  metaphors for electrical systems

  neurosis

  New Logic, 6.1, 6.2

  Newman, James R.

  Newton, Isaac, prl.1, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1, 6.1, 9.1, 11.1, 12.1, 14.1, 14.2, 14.3

  noise

  in biological systems

  coded messages as, 7.1, 7.2

  error correction to overcome, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1

  limits of information transmission, 8.1, 8.2

  in modeling of communication systems, 6.1, 7.1

  noisy coding theorem

  predictability

  problems of telephony, prl.1, prl.2, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1

  quantification of

  scientific study of, 6.1, 6.2

  source of, 6.1, 7.1

  as subject of psychology research, 8.1, 8.2

  Wiener’s studies of, 8.1, 8.2

  Nollet, Abbé Jean-Antoine

  noosphere

  Notions sur la machine analytique (Menabrea)

  nucleic acid, 10.1, 10.2; see also deoxyribonucleic acid, 10.1

  nucleotides, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4

  numbers

  computability question, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4, 12.5

  concept of normality in, 12.1, 12.2

  earliest written, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3

  information in, 12.1, 12.2

  interesting, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4

  meaning of

  printed tables of, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4

  products of Babbage’s work with, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3

  table of differences, 4.1, 4.2

  as universal language, 6.1, 6.2

  see also mathematics

  Nyquist, Harry, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 7.1

  observer effects on subject of observation, 7.1, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13.4, 13.5