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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What claim did Shannon make about the predictable redundancy of the English language?
(a) That this feature could cause programming to be very difficult.
(b) This this feature could not be computed.
(c) That this feature could cause errors.
(d) That this feature could be computed.

2. What comment did IBM researcher Charles Bennet make about the amount of information in a message?
(a) Is not a good measurement of its capacity.
(b) Is not a good measure of its ability for computation.
(c) Is not a good measurement of its meaningfulness.
(d) Is not a good measurement of its importance.

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

4. What did Charles Bennet prove about energy cost?
(a) When information was erased was entropy changed and heat dissipated.
(b) When information was erased heat remained constant.
(c) When information was erased entropy did not change.
(d) That no matter what the circumstance, there was no energy cost.

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

6. The existence of what entity as a basic element of genetics had been theorized before the mechanics of genetic reproduction was fully understood?
(a) RNA.
(b) A gene.
(c) DNA.
(d) The Genome.

7. What did mathematician Gregory Chaitin propose about Shannon's concept of entropy as uncertainty?
(a) That the theory was faulty.
(b) It was related to randomness in numbers.
(c) It was related to infinity.
(d) It was related to the dynamism of numbers.

8. How does heat travel?
(a) Heat can travel from a hot thing to a warm thing.
(b) Heat can travel from a cold thing to a hot thing.
(c) Heat can travel from a hot thing to a cold thing.
(d) Heat can travel from a hot thing to a hotter thing.

9. How can memes be altered?
(a) After a serious illness.
(b) Through mutation.
(c) Through mutation and manipulation.
(d) Through manipulation.

10. What is a fundamental problem in quantum mechanics?
(a) Particles are unstable at the quantum level.
(b) It is difficult to observe the quantum particle.
(c) Quantum mechanics is not a proven science.
(d) Observing a particle interferes with its behavior.

11. The connection of information with entropy and the physical realm proved to have applications in what type of physics?
(a) Nuclear physics.
(b) Theoretical physics.
(c) Astrophysics.
(d) Quantum physics.

12. What was Rolf Landauer's opinion of John von Neumann's theory on the energy cost of information?
(a) That it was incomplete.
(b) That it needed to be expanded.
(c) That it was incorrect.
(d) That it was accurate.

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

14. What does a closed system made up of a hot part and a cold part attain as the heat passes from the hot part to the cold part?
(a) Equilibrium.
(b) Neutrality.
(c) 32 degrees F.
(d) Controlled environment.

15. Where does the Internet store memes?
(a) In databases.
(b) In search engines.
(c) In clouds.
(d) In the network.

Short Answer Questions

1. Charles Bennet went on to design what method for passing information?

2. What is the relationship between humans and memes?

3. What is DNA also known as?

4. When were computers first unveiled?

5. Erwin Schrodinger used the concept of entropy to describe what group?

(see the answer keys)

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