Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to Universal I/O

"Entropy = Chaos" is what drives this process
Gary — (archived)

Robert said:

>Information Theory provides tools for evaluating and measuring
>information. The distribution of difference measures randomness
>and "information entropy", which is a tool for evaluating the
>strength of cypher systems; pointed the other way, analysis of
>a signal's degree of entropy yields patterned artifacts that
>provide traction for a codebreaker. Having a way to represent
>information as numbers makes it possible to use mathematics
>to transform information, to achieve, among other things,
>compression and error-detection/correction codes.

Ask five guys what "entropy" is and you'll get five different answers. My perception of entropy depends upon how I look at it. For this discussion, I see pure entropy as chaos. I try to model pure entropy (random numbers) by using the digits of an irrational number like Pi. I see the Laws of Physics as a filter upon entropy. The Laws of Physics accepts chaos as input in the form of random information but outputs ordered information in a sequence based upon simple rules. This sort of model for physics and cryptography are actually very similar. The cryptogram appears to the casual reader to be a random sequence of letters. However the key transforms the random sequence into a meaningful message. The analog of the "key" are the Laws of Physics. Of course this analog breaks down in that no message is hidden in pure chaos. The Laws of Physics are a cryptographic key that writes its own message using entroy/chaos as its paper and pencil.

Gary

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