Claude Shannon: Bit Player

[makinao]

The Shannon-Weaver model of communication was basic reading when I was an AB Mass Comm student in the late 1970s. But it was only during my MA studies in the 80s when I read the original 1948 "Mathematical Theory of Communication" article, did I realize his monumental contribution to the information and digital age.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Thanks for this. Haven't seen it before. He and von Neumann seem very much under appreciated in the modern world. I happened to go to college with one of von Neumann's nephews.

The beginning rings a bell with me. A decade or so back I was at a party and a couple friends come up to me and a gal says, "go ahead, ask him, I bet he knows". The question was who is Claude Shannon? I was a bit surprised saying who doesn't know Claude Shannon, and explained the basics of why he was an important person. They laughed and the gal said, "I told you he would know....he is such a geek." Which is a shame he should be known in the likes of Newton, Einstein, Maxwell and others. I put Oliver Heaviside in the same group of under appreciated people.

 

[threni]

The Shannon-Weaver model of communication was basic reading when I was an AB Mass Comm student in the late 1970s. But it was only during my MA studies in the 80s when I read the original 1948 "Mathematical Theory of Communication" article, did I realize his monumental contribution to the information and digital age.

Seeing him described as "bit player" reminded me of this caption during a TV interview:

 

[SIY]

I put Oliver Heaviside in the same group of under appreciated people.

This x1000!

 

[sq225917]

Seeing him described as "bit player" reminded me of this caption during a TV interview:View attachment 203811

They just missed out "The"

 

[dc655321]

There is a nice biography of Shannon, A Mind at Play, I believe. His paper on cryptography is also fascinating reading, and predates the famous 1948 paper on communication, A Mathematical Theory of Cryptography.

A giant of a mind…

 

[MRC01]

I learned about Shannon at university, getting my math degree. Not until 3rd or 4th year though, in group/ring theory when we got into public key encryption and took a brief detour into information theory.
James Gleick wrote a great book about this topic, which includes Shannon and others: The Information.

 

[BDWoody]

I learned about Shannon at university, getting my math degree.

I was working on my graduate degree in economics when I was introduced to Shannon's Demon. As I looked a bit more into his work, I couldn't believe I hadn't heard of him before.

What an incredible mind.

 

[Tom C]

Very cool.
I remember seeing the painting referenced in the video in real life. I forget where. But it’s rather large, and if you get way up close to it, it looks like it’s made up of pixels. Kind of interesting coincidence.