4 ms·

This guy needs to read GEB. One could describe a raindrop with even more bits (subatomic particles anybody?) or less (size, volume, shape of raindrop).

andreyf 18y ago
Interesting that you thought of describing a raindrop... I thought of storing information in it ;) Just imagine how much bigger our storage mechanisms will get...
- bradgessler 18y ago
  [...] In other words, this is how much information it takes to completely specify the state of one gram of water. Isn't that what the author was getting at?
unalone 18y ago
Plus, of course, he's talking about that raindrop in isolation. To describe it in context with the real world, you also need to factor in the light refracting through it, the position of the observer, and the pace at which it moves both due to gravity and to the earth's rotation. So to describe it accurately from a single position requires knowledge of everything around that raindrop. In fact, it's possible to say then that you could start with something as simple as, say, a piece of fairy cake, and deduce accurately the nature of everything else in the universe. Reading this, the thing that stuck out to me was the relatively small size of text (5MB for Shakespeare versus 20GB for Beethoven). It struck me that poetry - particularly haiku, which deals with nature - is sort of a primitive way of applying lenses to the world to create a filter for viewing things by appealing to collective experiences. Just a thought.
- celoyd 18y ago
  Primitive? Poetry is probably the most developed form of lossy compression there is.
  - unalone 18y ago
    Primitive meaning the concept behind it - capture a moment in time with words - is a very old and simple one. Don't get me wrong: poetry has become incredibly sophisticated. And it's still as enjoyable to write as it was long, long ago.
technoguyrob 18y ago
This is John Baez. I am pretty sure he has read GEB. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Baez http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Baez
- jacobscott 18y ago
  From his website: "I'll probably keep working on topological quantum field theory and other wimpy subjects" I would be careful what you tell him to go read...

andreyf 18y ago

Interesting that you thought of describing a raindrop... I thought of storing information in it ;) Just imagine how much bigger our storage mechanisms will get...

bradgessler 18y ago
[...] In other words, this is how much information it takes to completely specify the state of one gram of water. Isn't that what the author was getting at?

unalone 18y ago

Plus, of course, he's talking about that raindrop in isolation. To describe it in context with the real world, you also need to factor in the light refracting through it, the position of the observer, and the pace at which it moves both due to gravity and to the earth's rotation. So to describe it accurately from a single position requires knowledge of everything around that raindrop. In fact, it's possible to say then that you could start with something as simple as, say, a piece of fairy cake, and deduce accurately the nature of everything else in the universe. Reading this, the thing that stuck out to me was the relatively small size of text (5MB for Shakespeare versus 20GB for Beethoven). It struck me that poetry - particularly haiku, which deals with nature - is sort of a primitive way of applying lenses to the world to create a filter for viewing things by appealing to collective experiences. Just a thought.

celoyd 18y ago
Primitive? Poetry is probably the most developed form of lossy compression there is.
- unalone 18y ago
  Primitive meaning the concept behind it - capture a moment in time with words - is a very old and simple one. Don't get me wrong: poetry has become incredibly sophisticated. And it's still as enjoyable to write as it was long, long ago.

technoguyrob 18y ago

This is John Baez. I am pretty sure he has read GEB. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Baez http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Baez

jacobscott 18y ago
From his website: "I'll probably keep working on topological quantum field theory and other wimpy subjects" I would be careful what you tell him to go read...