Quotes About Computation

Information, as narrowly defined by Shannon, concerns the predictability of a message source. In the real world, however, information is something that is analyzed for meaning, that is remembered and combined with other information, and that produces results or actions. In short, information is processed via computation.

I took a course called Statistical Analysis. And there was a guy in the course who used to make up all his computations, and he never used sigma. He used his own initials. Because he was the standard deviation.

I took a course at Cal once called Statistical Analysis. And there was a guy in the course who used to make up all of his computations and he never used Sigma. He used his own initials. 'Cause he was the standard deviation.

Not every calculator integrate and differentiate.

The most important use to which he had put his memory was that he had stuffed an unprecedented number of mathematical constants and equations into it. Most of us have very few mathematical constants in our mind, perhaps only the up-to-twelve-times multiplication table. Johnny had put in his mind layers and layers of algebraic verities. These were the explanation of his extraordinary powers of mental calculation.

Computation is fundamentally a representational medium, but as we attempt to expand the ways in which we interact with computation, we need to pay attention to the duality of representation and participation.

Third, they reflect a different perspective on the role of computation, in which computation is integrated much more directly with the artifacts themselves. In the other examples, while they have aimed to distribute computation throughout the environment, there has always been a distinct "seam" between the computational and the physical worlds at the points where they meet.

Computers aren't smart, just fast. Garbage in, garbage out.