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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What did Chaitin mean by a "computable" number?
(a) A number that could be expressed in a simpler form.
(b) A number that could be expressed in its square root value.
(c) A number that can be calculated.
(d) A number that is not a variable.

2. Where does the Internet store memes?
(a) In databases.
(b) In clouds.
(c) In the network.
(d) In search engines.

3. What type of information is contained in DNA?
(a) Information that is unique to that organism.
(b) Information that is limited to the surrounding cells.
(c) Information that is passed from generation to generation.
(d) Information key to survival.

4. What does the word "cybernetics" mean?
(a) The study of the relationship between man and machine.
(b) The same as computer science.
(c) The study of robotics.
(d) The study of Internet crime.

5. DNA is made up of of how many different nucleotides?
(a) Six.
(b) Four.
(c) Eight.
(d) Three.

6. What is the premise of the story by Jorge Luis Borges entitled, "Library of Babel"?
(a) The library encompasses everything thing that ever lived.
(b) The library encompasses everything in the universe.
(c) The library has the answers to all the mysteries of the universe.
(d) The library encompasses all the energy of the universe.

7. Why is the belief in God an enduring one?
(a) Belief of God has been with mankind since the beginning.
(b) The memes retain beliefs.
(c) Beliefs are the only concepts that are passed on.
(d) The belief is inherited.

8. How are memes replicated?
(a) Through imitation.
(b) Through cloning.
(c) In response to disease.
(d) Through the maturation process.

9. How do scientists categorize catchphrases like "Survival of the fittest" and "Read my lips"?
(a) As memes.
(b) As bytes.
(c) As memories.
(d) As bits.

10. The elements of DNA come in predictable proportions of what shape?
(a) Double helix.
(b) Figure eight.
(c) Double spiral.
(d) Infinity symbol.

11. What did cosmologist George Gamow immediately recognize about DNA as a code and proposed that it could be deciphered mathematically?
(a) It was a code and it could be deciphered mathematically.
(b) It was a code and it could be developed to duplicate.
(c) It was a code and it could be cloned.
(d) It was dynamic and ever-changing.

12. What is the normal state of quantum particles?
(a) They exist in an unknown state.
(b) They exist in a subdued state.
(c) They exist in a cloud of probable states all at once.
(d) The exist in an electrically charged state.

13. Chaotic looking numbers may have simplistic algorithms but why are many difficult to determine?
(a) It is impossible to work back from the number to find them.
(b) Because they are not computable.
(c) The number is too difficult to compress through computation.
(d) The number is too complex.

14. It had long been noted that physical traits were inheritable and that they had something to do with what other human element?
(a) Genes.
(b) DNA.
(c) Chromosomes.
(d) Amino acids.

15. Why wasn't Shannon able to teach his computer to play a game?
(a) He thought he would be seen as non-serious.
(b) His boss nixed the idea.
(c) It would take to long to teach the machine the game.
(d) He found it wasn't possible.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the most probable state for an arrangement of molecules in a system?

2. What comment did IBM researcher Charles Bennet make about the amount of information in a message?

3. What can a computable number be compressed into?

4. What is the advantage of using quantum particles in the place of bits?

5. Why is the randomness of numbers difficult to define?

(see the answer keys)

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