@RanaldClouston@fediscience.org
Post #783308
2026-03-25 21:47 UTC
Finished an interesting romp through the scientific and technological history of the representation and transmission of information, from talking drums to Wikipedia, with Claude Shannon's information theory taking the star turn. I appreciated that the author isn't afraid to look beyond hype and offer mild scepticism: on Norbert Wiener's more grandiose tendencies, or attempts to turn memetics into an academic field (also, any serious discussion of memes in a 2011 book is always going to read amusingly, given how the word has mutated). I'd be fascinated to know how Shannon, with his program for generating plausible (ish) English text, would have reacted to LLMs - the ultimate victory of 'information' over meaning? The author is active on Mastodon: @gleick . @bookstodon #bookstodon
Replies (3)
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@asmaloney@fosstodon.org 2026-03-25 21:57
@RanaldClouston@fediscience.org @gleick@mas.to @bookstodon@fedigroups.social Loved this book. Read it years ago and then again more recently with my book club of two. Lead to some great discussions!
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@david_coombe_cbr@aus.social 2026-03-25 22:12
@RanaldClouston@fediscience.org Thanks Ranald. There are 2 copies currently free at #LibrariesACT. I’ve bookmarked for a future borrow.
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@colorblindcowboy@mastodon.art 2026-03-26 15:13
@RanaldClouston@fediscience.org @gleick@mas.to @bookstodon@fedigroups.social Gleick is wonderful. I haven't read this, but his "Chaos" shaped my young mind and informed how I view everything in the world today.