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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What is the relationship between humans and memes?
(a) Memes are the slaves to man.
(b) They operate independently.
(c) They are a co-dependent function.
(d) Memes are the masters and men are the slaves.

3. Entropy is the physical equivalent of what state?
(a) Probability.
(b) Normality.
(c) Sequencing.
(d) Possibility.

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

5. Why is the randomness of numbers difficult to define?
(a) Numbers send different messages.
(b) Numbers have an unpredictability.
(c) Numbers are infinite.
(d) A number may be random to some but not to others.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why wasn't Shannon able to teach his computer to play a game?

2. What is the modern meaning of "entropy"? "Entropy was not a kind of energy or an amount of energy," Gleick writes (p. 271). It was instead an abstract measurement of the unavailability of energy.

3. 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?

4. The universe has performed how many "operations"?

5. What is a fundamental problem in quantum mechanics?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was mathematician Gregory Chatin's concept on entropy?

2. What fundamental problem is inherent in the observation of quantum particles?

3. What is the normal state of molecules in a system? Describe that arrangement.

4. What are major differences between Wikipedia and the Encyclopedia Brittanica?

5. The connection of information with entropy and the physical realm was important to what physics discipline?

6. What did psychologist George Miller discover about a person's ability to remember?

7. What was zoologist's Richard Dawkins' theory on DNA?

8. When was the term "cybernetics" coined and what meaning was attached to it?

9. What are examples of memes?

10. What was Claude Shannon referring to by the term "entropy" and what was its importance?

(see the answer keys)

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