Entropy is not about speeds or positions of particles, the way temperature and pressure and volume are, but about our lack of information. Hans Christian von Baeyer More Quotes by Hans Christian von Baeyer More Quotes From Hans Christian von Baeyer Information gently but relentlessly drizzles down on us in an invisible, impalpable electric rain. Hans Christian von Baeyer invisible information rain Both induction and deduction, reasoning from the particular and the general, and back again from the universal to the specific, form the essence to scientific thinking. Hans Christian von Baeyer form essence thinking Time has been called God's way of making sure that everything doesn't happen at once. In the same spirit, noise is Nature's way of making sure that we don't find out everything that happens. Noise, in short, is the protector of information. Hans Christian von Baeyer information noise way The problem of defining exactly what is meant by the signal velocity, which cropped up as long ago as 1907, has not been solved. Hans Christian von Baeyer velocity long-ago defining To put it one way, a collection of Shakespeare's plays is richer than a phone book that uses the same number of letters; to put it another, the essence of information lies in the relationships among bits, not their sheer number. Hans Christian von Baeyer play book lying The switch from 'steam engines' to 'heat engines' signals the transition from engineering practice to theoretical science. Hans Christian von Baeyer engineering transition practice An electron is real; a probability is not. Hans Christian von Baeyer electrons probability real This is not what I thought physics was about when I started out: I learned that the idea is to explain nature in terms of clearly understood mathematical laws; but perhaps comparisons are the best we can hope for. Hans Christian von Baeyer physics law ideas Paradox is the sharpest scalpel in the satchel of science. Nothing concentrates the mind as effectively, regardless of whether it pits two competing theories against each other, or theory against observation, or a compelling mathematical deduction against ordinary common sense. Hans Christian von Baeyer common-sense mind two As every bookie knows instinctively, a number such as reliability - a qualitative rather than a quantitative measure - is needed to make the valuation of information practically useful. Hans Christian von Baeyer reliability information numbers If quantum communication and quantum computation are to flourish, a new information theory will have to be developed. Hans Christian von Baeyer quantum information communication In fact, an information theory that leaves out the issue of noise turns out to have no content. Hans Christian von Baeyer issues information noise The smell of subjectivity clings to the mechanical definition of complexity as stubbornly as it sticks to the definition of information. Hans Christian von Baeyer smell information definitions We don't know what energy is, any more than we know what information is, but as a now robust scientific concept we can describe it in precise mathematical terms, and as a commodity we can measure, market, regulate and tax it. Hans Christian von Baeyer commodity information energy In order to understand information, we must define it; bit in order to define it, we must first understand it. Where to start? Hans Christian von Baeyer information order firsts Claude Shannon, the founder of information theory, invented a way to measure 'the amount of information' in a message without defining the word 'information' itself, nor even addressing the question of the meaning of the message. Hans Christian von Baeyer information messages way Science has taught us that what we see and touch is not what is really there. Hans Christian von Baeyer taught-us taught Numbers instill a feeling for the lie of the land, and furnish grist for the mathematical mill that is the physicist's principal tool. Hans Christian von Baeyer land numbers lying If you don't understand something, break it apart; reduce it to its components. Since they are simpler than the whole,you have a much better chance of understanding them; and when you have succeeded in doing that, put the whole thing back together again. Hans Christian von Baeyer together-again chance understanding Underneath the shifting appearances of the world as perceived by our unreliable senses, is there, or is there not, a bedrock of objective reality? Hans Christian von Baeyer shifting reality world
