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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where is DNA found?
(a) Within the cells of every living thing.
(b) Within the cells of every human being.
(c) In the cells of the nervous system.
(d) In newly forming cells.

2. What was one of the innovative concepts that Dawkins proposed in "The Selfish Gene"?
(a) The repressive gene.
(b) A meme.
(c) The genome.
(d) The extra gene.

3. Who suggested that the meaning of the word "entropy" mean the opposite of what it was originally, to describe the part of energy which was available to be converted into work?
(a) Isaac Newton.
(b) Christian Doppler.
(c) James Clerk Maxwell.
(d) Albert Einstein.

4. Is quantum computing a real possibility?
(a) It is just a dream.
(b) It is a solid theory.
(c) The theory has not been proven yet.
(d) It is not likely.

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

6. What time of memory is most limited?
(a) Short term memory.
(b) Repressed memory.
(c) Long term memory.
(d) Childhood memory.

7. What does the author compare the famous library to?
(a) Quantum data storage.
(b) The Encyclopedia Brittanica.
(c) Search engines.
(d) The online encyclopedia Wikipedia.

8. What can a computable number be compressed into?
(a) 0s and 1s.
(b) A standard calculation.
(c) A byte.
(d) An algorithm.

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

10. Why do scientists consider the belief in God a meme?
(a) Because all beliefs are contained in memes.
(b) Memes control reactions to external influences.
(c) Most scientists are atheists.
(d) It has been passed from person to person.

11. What do early experiments show about entangled particles which are particles that are mysteriously linked to one another even over long distances?
(a) The information they send is not reliable.
(b) They can send only limited information.
(c) They can be used to send information.
(d) They are useless in the transference of information.

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

13. What does Gleick compare the "Library of Babel" to?
(a) The M-Theory.
(b) Quantum consciousness.
(c) Search engines.
(d) The Internet.

14. What does the word "entropy" describe in relationship to thermodynamics?
(a) The efficiency of a system.
(b) The temperature of a system.
(c) The availability of energy in a system.
(d) The functionality of a system.

15. What did Chaitin determine about most numbers?
(a) That they are computable.
(b) That they can be compressed to manageable entities.
(c) That they are not computable.
(d) That they have complex alogarithms.

Short Answer Questions

1. What game did Shannon plan to teach his computer to play?

2. What is the normal state of quantum particles?

3. What process can measure the limits of the human mind?

4. What does a closed system made up of a hot part and a cold part attain as the heat passes from the hot part to the cold part?

5. When were computers first unveiled?

(see the answer keys)

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