The discrete charm of the machine : why the world became digital / Ken Steiglitz

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Steiglitz, Ken, (author).

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Digital communications.

Technological innovations.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (256 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2019]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

"A few short decades ago, we were informed by the smooth signals of analog television and radio; we communicated using our analog telephones; and we even computed with analog computers. Today our world is digital, built with zeros and ones. Why did this revolution occur? The Discrete Charm of the Machine explains, in an engaging and accessible manner, the varied physical and logical reasons behind this radical transformation. The spark of individual genius shines through this story of innovation: the stored program of Jacquard’s loom; Charles Babbage’s logical branching; Alan Turing’s brilliant abstraction of the discrete machine; Harry Nyquist’s foundation for digital signal processing; Claude Shannon’s breakthrough insights into the meaning of information and bandwidth; and Richard Feynman’s prescient proposals for nanotechnology and quantum computing. Ken Steiglitz follows the progression of these ideas in the building of our digital world, from the internet and artificial intelligence to the edge of the unknown. Are questions like the famous traveling salesman problem truly beyond the reach of ordinary digital computers? Can quantum computers transcend these barriers? Does a mysterious magical power reside in the analog mechanisms of the brain? Steiglitz concludes by confronting the moral and aesthetic questions raised by the development of artificial intelligence and autonomous robots. The Discrete Charm of the Machine examines why our information technology, the lifeblood of our civilization, became digital, and challenges us to think about where its future trajectory may lead." -- Publisher's description.

Contents:

Part I. A century of value. The discrete revolution ; What’s wrong with analog? ; Signal standardization ; Consequential physics ; Your computer is a photograph – Part II. Sound and pictures. Music from bits ; Communication in a noisy world – Part III. Computation. Analog computers ; Turing’s machine ; Intrinsic difficulty ; Searching for magic – Part IV. Today and tomorrow. The internet, then the robots.

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 06. Apr 2020)

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780691184173

0691184178

9780691179438

0691179433

OCLC:

1081038783