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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. Shannon used the term entropy to have what meaning in reference to a message?
(a) Certainty.
(b) Relevance.
(c) Importance.
(d) Uncertainty.

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

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

5. Who is Seth Lloyd?
(a) A physics professor at Harvard.
(b) A theoretical physicist at MIT.
(c) A astrophysicist at Stanford.
(d) A quantum engineer at MIT.

6. What does the word "entropy" describe in relationship to thermodynamics?
(a) The temperature of a system.
(b) The availability of energy in a system.
(c) The functionality of a system.
(d) The efficiency of a system.

7. According to Psychologist George Miller, what type of process takes place in the mind relative to the information it receives?
(a) The selection of relevant information.
(b) The ranking of important to less important information.
(c) The simplification of information.
(d) The rejection of too much information.

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

9. What can the amount of information in a message be expressed in?
(a) By its integral number.
(b) By the bits it contains.
(c) By the algorithm that produces it.
(d) By the computation that produces it.

10. The universe has performed how many "operations"?
(a) 10 to the 100th power "operations."
(b) 10 to the 120th power "operations."
(c) An infinite number of "operations."
(d) Over ten trillion "operations."

11. DNA is made up of of how many different nucleotides?
(a) Six.
(b) Four.
(c) Three.
(d) Eight.

12. What can a computable number be compressed into?
(a) A byte.
(b) An algorithm.
(c) 0s and 1s.
(d) A standard calculation.

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

14. How much information does the universe hold?
(a) Around 20 to the 100th power bits.
(b) An infinite amount of information.
(c) Around 10 to the 90th power bits.
(d) Approximately 15 trillion bits.

15. When were computers first unveiled?
(a) Pre-World War II.
(b) Just before the Korean War.
(c) At the end of the Eisenhower administration.
(d) After World War II.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Charles Bennet prove about energy cost?

2. What does the size of the algorithm indicate about the number?

3. Why is modern society in information overload?

4. Why are people able to recall the name of a tune?

5. How do scientists categorize catchphrases like "Survival of the fittest" and "Read my lips"?

(see the answer keys)

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