second law of, 8.1, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4, 9.5, 9.6

  Thesaurus (Roget)

  thinking

  cryptographic skills

  as digital operation, 8.1, 8.2

  discovery of

  human–computer comparison, 8.1, 8.2

  language and, 2.1, 2.2

  in literate cultures, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8

  logic and, 2.1, 2.2, 5.1, 5.2

  machine and computer operations as, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, 8.8, 8.9, 8.10

  “recoding” of information in, 8.1, 8.2

  telegraph effects on, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4

  see also logic

  Thomas, Thomas

  Thomson, James

  Thomson, William, Lord Kelvin, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3

  “Three Approaches to the Definition of the Concept ‘Amount of Information’” (Kolmogorov)

  Three Letter Code for Condensed Telegraphic and Inscrutably Secret Messages and Correspondence (Scott)

  “Three Models for the Description of Language” (Chomsky)

  THROBAC

  time

  effects of information technology in perception of

  movement toward entropy in, 9.1, 9.2

  in physics of black holes

  speed of early mechanical calculators, 4.1, 4.2

  standardization of clocks, 1.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4

  telegraph effects on understanding of, 5.1, 5.2

  written language and

  Time Machine, The (Wells)

  Tobias, Andrew

  tonality, in communication, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3

  Torres y Quevedo, Leonardo

  Total Baseball: The Ultimate Baseball Encyclopedia, 13.1

  trademark names, 14.1, 14.2, 14.3

  transistor, prl.1, prl.2, prl.3, 3.1, 7.1, 14.1

  translation, language, 3.1, 3.2

  transmission of information

  Babbage’s work on, 4.1, 4.2

  bandwidth requirements, 6.1, 6.2

  in biological evolution, 10.1, 10.2

  in cuneiform, 2.1, 2.2

  data compression for

  disruptive effects of new technologies for, prl.1, prl.2

  entanglement as

  evolution of electrical technologies for, 5.1, 5.2

  genetic, 10.1, 10.2

  historical evolution, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4

  human history and, prl.1, prl.2

  in telephotography, 6.1, 6.2

  interconnectedness of cyberspace for, 3.1, 3.2

  limits of speed and capacity, 7.1, 8.1, 8.2

  news reports, 5.1, 5.2

  overload effects, 15.1, 15.2, 15.3, 15.4, 15.5

  by quantum teleportation, 13.1, 13.2

  for replication of culture

  sensory involvement as indicator of quality of, 2.1, 2.2

  source of noise in

  transmission of electricity as, 5.1, 5.2

  units of measurement

  see also communication; meme(s); specific mode of transmission

  Treatise on Electro-Magnetism (Roget)

  tree rings

  triangular numbers, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4

  Trudeau, Garry

  truth, 2.1, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5

  Turing, Alan, prl.1, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 9.1, 14.1

  Turing machine(s)

  capabilities

  as code generator

  proof of incompleteness theorem by, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 12.1

  significance of, in computer science, 12.1, 12.2

  states

  symbols

  tape, 7.1, 7.2

  thermodynamics of, 13.1, 13.2

  two-state model

  U machine, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 12.1

  Turing Test, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4

  Twitter, 11.1, epl.1, epl.2

  Uglow, Jenny

  uncertainty

  entropy as measure of, 7.1, 9.1, 9.2

  incompleteness theorem and, 7.1, 12.1

  information and

  limits to science, 12.1, 12.2

  in measurement of quantum properties, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3

  uncomputability, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4, 12.5

  undecidability; see decision problem

  uninteresting numbers, 12.1, 12.2

  University of Vienna

  Updike, John

  Uruk, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3

  Vail, Alfred, 1.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 7.1

  Vail, Theodore N., 6.1, 6.2

  VanArsdale, Daniel W.

  van Leeuwenhoek, Antony, 6.1, 6.2, 8.1

  Vautroullier, Thomas

  Verne, Jules

  Victoria, Queen, 5.1, 6.1

  Vienna Circle, 6.1, 6.2

  Vigenère cipher, 5.1, 7.1, 7.2

  Vincent of Beauvais

  viruses, prl.1, 11.1, 11.2

  vocabulary size, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9

  growth of language, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4

  Shakespeare’s

  Volta, Alessandro

  von Foerster, Heinz, 8.1, epl.1

  von Neumann, John, 6.1, 6.2, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 9.1, 10.1, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 13.1

  Voyager spacecraft

  Wales, Jimmy, 14.1, 14.2, 14.3, 14.4, 14.5

  Wallace, David Foster

  Walton, Stephen, 11.1, 11.2

  Washington, George

  Wassall, Irma

  Watson, David L.

  Watson, James D., 7.1, 7.2, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 13.1

  Watson, John B.

  Watts, Duncan, epl.1, epl.2

  Weaver, Edmund

  Weaver, Warren, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3

  Weber, Wilhelm

  Webster, Noah

  Wells, H. G., 6.1, 9.1, 14.1, epl.1, epl.2

  Well-Tempered Clavier (Bach), 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4

  Western Union Telegraph Company

  Weyl, Hermann, prl.1, 6.1

  What Is Life? (Schrödinger)

  Wheatstone, Charles, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3

  Wheeler, John Archibald, prl.1, prl.2, 12.1, 12.2, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3

  Whitehead, Alfred North, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1

  Whitman, Walt, epl.1, epl.2

  Whitmore, Georgiana

  Wiener, Norbert, prl.1, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, 8.8, 8.9, 8.10, 8.11, 8.12, 8.13, 8.14, 8.15, 8.16, 8.17, 8.18, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 12.1

  Wikipedia, 12.1, 12.2, 14.1, 14.2, 14.3, 14.4, 14.5, 14.6, 14.7, 14.8, 14.9, 14.10, 14.11, 14.12, 15.1, epl.1

  Wilkes, Charles

  Wilkins, John, 5.1, 5.2

  Wilson, Edward O.

  Wilson, Thomas

  wire fences, 6.1, 6.2

  Wisdom of Crowds (Surowiecki)

  Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 3.1, 6.1, 6.2, 8.1

  World Brain (Wells)

  World Congress of Universal Documentation

  World War II, prl.1, prl.2, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3

  Wright, Sylvia

  writing

  abstract thinking and

  alphabet-based, 2.1, 2.2

  criticism of communicative capacity of, 2.1, 2.2

  cryptography and, 5.1, 5.2

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

  in development of mathematics, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5

  extension of time and space in

  historical development of, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5

  levels of representation in

  memory and, 2.1, 2.2

  modes and uses of information arising from, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4

  origins of logic in, 2.1, 2.2

  second age of orality and, 2.1, 2.2

  self-awareness in, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3

  as technology

  thinking and, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5

  Wyman, Bill, 14.1, 14.2

  Wynter, Andrew, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4

  X System, prl.1, prl.2, 7.1

  Yahoo!

  Yaunde language

  YouTube

  ALSO BY JAMES
GLEICK

  Chaos: Making a New Science

  Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman

  Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything

  What Just Happened: A Chronicle from the Information Frontier

  Isaac Newton

  A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  James Gleick was born in New York City in 1954. His previous books include Chaos and Genius, both Pulitzer Prize finalists and National Book Award nominees. His last book, Isaac Newton, was also a Pulitzer Prize finalist. They have been translated into more than twenty languages. His Web site is at www.around.com.

  ILLUSTRATION CREDITS

  4.1 Photograph courtesy of the Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

  6.1 The New York Times Archive/Redux

  7.1 Copyright Robert Lord

  7.2 Reprinted with permission from Journal Franklin Institute, vol. 262, E. F. Moore and C. E. Shannon, “Reliable Circuits Using Less Reliable Rays,” pp. 191–208, © 1956, with permission from Elsevier.

  7.3 Taken from Claude Elwood Shannon Collected Papers, ed. NJA Sloane & Aaron Wyner © 1993 IEEE

  7.4 Taken from Claude Elwood Shannon Collected Papers, ed. NJA Sloane & Aaron Wyner, © 1993 IEEE

  7.5 © Mary E. Shannon

  8.1 Alfred Eisenstaedt/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

  8.2 Keystone/Stringer/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

  8.3 Alfred Eisenstaedt/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

  9.1 Taken from Entropy and Energy Levels by Gasser & Richards (1974) Figs. 9.7, 9.8 pp. 117–118. By permission of Oxford University Press.

  9.2 From Symbols, Signals & Noise by J. R. Pierce (Harper & Brothers, NY, 1961), p. 199.

  9.3 Copyright © 2010 Stanley Angrist, reprinted by permission of Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group.

  9.4 Reproduced from Fundamentals of Cybernetics, Lerner AY (Plenum Publishing Corp., NY 1975), p. 257.

  9.5 Copyright © 2010 Stanley Angrist, reprinted by permission of Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group

  12.1 Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech

  13.1 Christopher Fuchs

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1. Drums That Talk

  Chapter 2. The Persistence of the Word

  Chapter 3. Two Wordbooks

  Chapter 4. To Throw the Powers of Thought into Wheel-Work

  Chapter 5. A Nervous System for the Earth

  Chapter 6. New Wires, New Logic

  Chapter 7. Information Theory

  Chapter 8. The Informational Turn

  Chapter 9. Entropy and Its Demons

  Chapter 10. Life’s Own Code

  Chapter 11. Into the Meme Pool

  Chapter 12. The Sense of Randomness

  Chapter 13. Information Is Physical

  Chapter 14. After the Flood

  Chapter 15. New News Every Day

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  Notes

  Bibliography

  Index

  A Note About The Author

  Illustration Credits

 


 

  James Gleick, What Just Happened: A Chronicle From the Information Frontier

 


 

 
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