Who Wrote the Bible Code? A Physicist Probes the Current Controversy by Randall Ingermanson Ph.D

Author:Randall Ingermanson, Ph.D. [Ingermanson, Randall]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: WaterBrook Press
Published: 2020-12-30T16:00:00+00:00

LIFE, DEATH, AND ENTROPY

Entropy is a statistical measure of disorder. In chapter 8, we measured the entropy of the digits of π in three different ways, and we got pretty much the same result each time. Then we tried the same thing on The Cat in the Hat and got three quite different answers.

How can there be three different entropies for the same text? Which is the “right” one? Or are they all wrong?

To answer these questions, let’s back up a step. Recall that entropy can be thought of as the opposite of redundancy. A low entropy means a high level of redundancy, reflecting an abundance of meaningful patterns of information.

Redundancy means that you can remove some part of the message without losing any information.

Let’s try an example. Imagine you’re locked away in a Third-World prison, accused of a crime you didn’t commit. Speaking through an interpreter, your sadistic guard forces you to play a deadly game.

“I will choose a letter at random from one of your depraved books, filthy American! If you guess the letter correctly, you will live! If not, then we will shoot you at once.”

The guard goes into the next room, and you hear the sound of pages turning. “I have made my choice, American! Now guess!”

You sit there in your chair, sweating. The most common English letter is e, which makes up about 13 percent of any text. Wonderful. You have at best a 13 percent chance of survival.

“Give me a clue,” you say in your most pathetic voice. “I’ve got children at home.”

“How many children, American?”

“Ten,” you say, hoping he believes you.

By a miracle, he does. “Very well, foreign devil! I will give you ten clues.”

Now what sort of clue can you ask for? Finally you say, “What letter comes just before the chosen letter?”

The guard consults the book. “It is an a.”

That doesn’t tell you much. “What letter comes before that?” you ask.

“H,” says the guard.

Your mind spins furiously. Ha_. The third letter could be d or m or s or … anything. No, not quite anything. It probably isn’t an a, an e, or an o. So you’ve made progress. You ask again. “What letter comes before that?”

“E,” says the guard. “Are you not yet ready to guess, running dog?”

Of course you aren’t. You ask for more letters, and the guard supplies them. As he does, a guess forms in your mind. Soon you know it with a certainty. To play it safe, you ask for all ten letters. Finally the guard gives the last one.

You replay the letters again in your mind, just to make sure. Catintheha_. Yes! You lean back in your chair and take a deep breath. “The letter you chose is t!”

The guard walks back into the room, his face sagging with disappointment. “Correct, filthy American. You are lucky this day, are you not?”

You gravely agree as he escorts you to freedom.

Do you see what’s happened? As the guard supplied you with more letters, your information about the missing letter increased, due to the redundancy of the English language.

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