Information Theory: The Language of Coins

The bit represents information theory’s fundamental unit, measuring surprise through answers to yes-or-no questions—the atomic particle of all communication forms.

Entropy provides a universal measurement scale for information content, enabling precise quantification and comparison of information across different communication forms, analogous to measuring mass with standard units.

Information fundamentally represents the process of one mind influencing another through selective choices among possible states, defining communication as guided selection rather than signal transmission alone.

All language systems enable humans to decompose mental objects—thoughts and ideas—into discrete conceptual chunks that can be externalized through signals and symbols.

Information exists as a universal phenomenon independent of its physical medium, appearing identically across diverse forms from sound vibrations to electrical signals to molecular sequences.