
A Mathematical Theory of Communication (1948) [pdf] - mubaris
http://math.harvard.edu/~ctm/home/text/others/shannon/entropy/entropy.pdf
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ethanwillis
Also read Norbert Wiener's Cybernetics [http://uberty.org/wp-
content/uploads/2015/07/Norbert_Wiener_...](http://uberty.org/wp-
content/uploads/2015/07/Norbert_Wiener_Cybernetics.pdf)

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fellellor
Extremely well written. I wish I hadn't been so lazy while I was in college,
and read this earlier.

Is there any intelligent public community discussion available on this?

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pizza
I wish I had one to point to, but there should be almost 70 years' worth :P

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SamReidHughes
[https://monoskop.org/images/2/2f/Shannon_Claude_E_1956_The_B...](https://monoskop.org/images/2/2f/Shannon_Claude_E_1956_The_Bandwagon.pdf)

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pizza
This one is important too

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hyperpallium
I've always liked the intro to this, such a simple definition of information,
a choice out of a selection of choices.

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yodon
tldr; Shannon's 1948 paper

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throwaway613834
Somehow I get the impression you're doing pretty well if you even know of the
existence of this paper. It's far easier to go through all of CS and even EE
undergrad, never even knowing the foundation of the whole field.

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dvt
If true, that's pretty disappointing. We had to read parts of this paper in a
_philosophy_ class. I remember having to calculate entropies for one of the
exams.

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gibbsnich
It's sad, I have to agree. I feel like we (yes, all of us) are missing great
opportunities by concentrating too much on directly monetizable ("work-
related") knowledge in our educational systems. It's just shortsighted and
works against intrinsic motivations to learn.

That being said I learned about cybernetics in a _sociology_ class. Getting to
know Shannon, Wiener, Von Foerster, George Spencer Brown ("Laws of Form"
highly recommended reading) and Luhmann was the most interesting stuff I ever
got to learn.

