Information Theorists

Information seems so obvious. It’s what we exchange every time we talk, text, or type. But try defining it. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

Give up? This is the strange thing about information. We are immersed in it daily, yet pinning down a definition of just what it is has occupied some of the deepest scientific and philosophical minds of the past century. Thus, the thinkers you’ll find in this section are the ones who helped me understand why information matters – not just for computers and communications, but for understanding reality itself.

Some of them are famous, for example, Claude Shannon, the mathematician who launched the digital age by figuring out how to measure information. Others you may not have heard of, like Tom Stonier, the biologist who argued that information is as fundamental as matter and energy. I will be adding more of my intellectual heroes as I keep reading and learning. Each of them, in their own way, has shaped how I see the world.

Please note that they don’t always agree. That’s the point. Information theory is still a living conversation, and these are some of the voices I’m listening to.