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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What did Chaitin determine about most numbers?
(a) That they can be compressed to manageable entities.
(b) That they are computable.
(c) That they have complex alogarithms.
(d) That they are not computable.

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

3. How does Gleick see the universe?
(a) As a cloud of quantum particles.
(b) As a colossal Internet.
(c) As a giant computer.
(d) As an infinite stream of knowledge.

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

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

6. Erwin Schrodinger used the concept of entropy to describe what group?
(a) Microbes.
(b) Allergins.
(c) Living organisms.
(d) Plant life.

7. Who suggested that the meaning of the word "entropy" mean the opposite of what it was originally, to describe the part of energy which was available to be converted into work?
(a) Albert Einstein.
(b) James Clerk Maxwell.
(c) Isaac Newton.
(d) Christian Doppler.

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 artillery system.
(d) The circulatory system.

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

10. Why wasn't Shannon able to teach his computer to play a game?
(a) He thought he would be seen as non-serious.
(b) He found it wasn't possible.
(c) It would take to long to teach the machine the game.
(d) His boss nixed the idea.

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

12. What does the author compare the famous library to?
(a) Search engines.
(b) The online encyclopedia Wikipedia.
(c) Quantum data storage.
(d) The Encyclopedia Brittanica.

13. 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 rejection of too much information.
(c) The simplification of information.
(d) The ranking of important to less important information.

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

15. Charles Bennet went on to design what method for passing information?
(a) Passing information by circuit relays.
(b) Passing information by qubits.
(c) Passing information by bytes.
(d) Passing information by electrical networking.

Short Answer Questions

1. What library once helped writing from all over the known world?

2. How can memes be altered?

3. How did Gregory Chaitin define random numbers?

4. Where does the Internet store memes?

5. Why do scientists view quantum particles in terms of probability?

(see the answer keys)

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