Information Sonnet (Poem by Clara B. Jones)

Information Sonnet*

for Claude E. Shannon

1. p log p= 0

2. "If you can control information you can control people."

3. “*$$< ;<:^=]-{-#* <$^{ #$] _\{] 5-=5\!;]^ -#&$=@;]-$#, -] %^#^]=;]^{ ](^ %\3!-5 @-#< 6-](

<^{-=^{ ;#< 3^!-^&{.”¹

4. You are dissatisfied with objective reality but are not opposed to the status quo.

5. Identity is heterogeneous and complex.

6. Entomologists catch red flies for the museum in Chad where scientists study fossils fixed in amber—xanthous as toxic foam.

7. I(X; Y)= H(X) – H(X|Y)

8. Her bruise is the color of the space between your toe and your red sock.

9. "Information is only useful when it can be understood."

10. Everything depends on red socks.

11. If you were an Afrobot I couldn't take you home.

12. Transmitter--(x)--> (noisy) Channel--(y)--> Receiver

13. It is easier to turn genes on than to turn genes off

14. W= K log m

¹“Good advertising does not just circulate information, it penetrates the public mind with desires and beliefs.”

*First published in the online journal, otoliths (2018)