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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 12.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What are memes?
(a) Bits of information.
(b) Chromosomal genes.
(c) Self-cloning genes.
(d) Repressive genes.

2. Before "A Table Alphabeticall", how were most catalogs and word lists arranged?
(a) By order of the king's scribe.
(b) By frequency of use.
(c) By topic.
(d) By order of the philosophers.

3. Why do scientists consider the belief in God a meme?
(a) Memes control reactions to external influences.
(b) Most scientists are atheists.
(c) Because all beliefs are contained in memes.
(d) It has been passed from person to person.

4. At an exclusive meeting in New York City, Shannon commented that the English language had what characteristic?
(a) A recognizable rhythm.
(b) A special intonation.
(c) A unique dynamism.
(d) A specific entropy.

5. Why did businessmen immediately take to the telegraph?
(a) Businessmen could save money on travel expenses.
(b) Orders no longer had to be hand written.
(c) Orders and market information could be transmitted quickly over long distances.
(d) Businesses did not have to hire as many workers.

Short Answer Questions

1. What type of lists did Babbage create about livestock, fabric, letter combinations in various languages and other facts?

2. What did mathematician Gregory Chaitin propose about Shannon's concept of entropy as uncertainty?

3. in what year did John Carrington, an English missionary, publish "The Talking Drums of Africa"?

4. Schrodinger and others theorized that genes had what role in life?

5. Memes are messages that are independent of what other element?

(see the answer key)

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