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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 15 and Epilogue.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Gleick compare the "Library of Babel" to?
(a) Quantum consciousness.
(b) The M-Theory.
(c) Search engines.
(d) The Internet.

2. Why is the belief in God an enduring one?
(a) Belief of God has been with mankind since the beginning.
(b) Beliefs are the only concepts that are passed on.
(c) The belief is inherited.
(d) The memes retain beliefs.

3. What was Claude Shannon fascinated with?
(a) Electronics.
(b) Communications.
(c) Computing.
(d) Cryptograms.

4. What were the two essential elements of Shannon's simple communication model?
(a) A transmitter and a receiver.
(b) Two relay switches.
(c) Grid and network.
(d) Circuit and grid.

5. What did Alan Turing reduce human thought to?
(a) Numbers.
(b) 0s and 1s.
(c) Its basic elements.
(d) Symbols.

Short Answer Questions

1. Is information a modern phenomenon?

2. What were the interests of Charles Babbage, a brilliant Englishman who lived in the 19th century?

3. In the prologue to "The Information", what year does Gleick identify as a crucial year in the history of information and computing?

4. What about DNA allows it to split and replicate?

5. A new interest in what pursuit arose following the rise of the telegraph?

(see the answer key)

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