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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is an algorithm?
(a) An algebraic formula.
(b) A mathematical theory.
(c) A set of instructions for arriving at a certain result.
(d) A complex calculation.

2. 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) Controlled environment.
(b) Neutrality.
(c) Equilibrium.
(d) 32 degrees F.

3. The elements of DNA come in predictable proportions of what shape?
(a) Double spiral.
(b) Double helix.
(c) Infinity symbol.
(d) Figure eight.

4. What is the premise of the story by Jorge Luis Borges entitled, "Library of Babel"?
(a) The library encompasses all the energy of the universe.
(b) The library has the answers to all the mysteries of the universe.
(c) The library encompasses everything thing that ever lived.
(d) The library encompasses everything in the universe.

5. What is DNA also known as?
(a) Amino acid.
(b) Defining neutrino acid.
(c) Cells.
(d) Deoxyribonucleic acid.

6. What was one of the innovative concepts that Dawkins proposed in "The Selfish Gene"?
(a) A meme.
(b) The extra gene.
(c) The repressive gene.
(d) The genome.

7. What did Seth Lloyd, a quantum engineer at MIT, base his estimates on the universe on?
(a) The speed of light and the age of the universe.
(b) The speed of light.
(c) The age of the universe.
(d) The volume and capacity of the universe.

8. Norbert Weiner developed a theory that had implications for the understanding of what system of the human body which might be thought of as a system of switches and signals.
(a) The nervous system.
(b) The respiratory system.
(c) The circulatory system.
(d) The artillery system.

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

10. What type of information is contained in DNA?
(a) Information that is limited to the surrounding cells.
(b) Information that is passed from generation to generation.
(c) Information key to survival.
(d) Information that is unique to that organism.

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

12. Recognizing a famous painting like the Mona Lisa is attributed to what factor?
(a) Bits.
(b) The meme.
(c) Memory.
(d) Education.

13. How did Landauer disprove von Neumann's theory on the energy cost of information?
(a) Flipping a bit from one state to another did not change entropy..
(b) Through extensive experiments.
(c) There was no lost of vitality.
(d) He was supported by others who agreed with him.

14. What does the word "cybernetics" mean?
(a) The same as computer science.
(b) The study of robotics.
(c) The study of Internet crime.
(d) The study of the relationship between man and machine.

15. "Entropy" was first used by what individual to describe the unavailability of energy?
(a) Galileo Galilei.
(b) Albert Einstein.
(c) Isaac Newton.
(d) Rudolph Clausius.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why do scientists consider the belief in God a meme?

2. What is the relationship between humans and memes?

3. How can memes be altered?

4. It had long been noted that physical traits were inheritable and that they had something to do with what other human element?

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

(see the answer keys)

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