Jim Guenther

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[Tech with Mak @techNmak]

In 1948, a 32-year-old at Bell Labs published a paper nobody fully understood.

Engineers found it too mathematical. Mathematicians found it too engineering-focused. One prominent mathematician reviewed it negatively.

That paper - "A Mathematical Theory of Communication", became the founding document of the digital age.

The man was Claude Shannon. Father of Information Theory.

At 21, he wrote the most important master's thesis of the 20th century.

Working at MIT on an early mechanical computer, Shannon noticed its relay switches had exactly two states - open or closed. He had just taken a philosophy course introducing Boolean algebra, which also operated on two values: true and false.

Nobody had ever connected these two things.

His 1937 thesis proved that Boolean algebra and electrical circuits are mathematically identical, and that any logical operation could be built from simple switches.

Howard Gardner called it "possibly the most important, and also the most famous, master's thesis of the century."

Every digital computer ever built traces back to this insight.

At 29, he proved that perfect encryption exists.

During WWII, Shannon worked on classified cryptography at Bell Labs. His work contributed to SIGSALY, the secure voice system used for confidential communications between Roosevelt and Churchill.

In a classified 1945 memorandum, he mathematically proved the one-time pad provides perfect secrecy, unbreakable not just computationally, but provably, permanently, against an adversary with infinite power.

When declassified in 1949, it transformed cryptography from an art into a science. It laid the foundations for DES, AES, and every modern encryption standard.

At 32, he defined what information is.

His 1948 paper introduced one equation:
H = −Σ p(x) log p(x)

Shannon entropy. The average uncertainty in a probability distribution. The minimum bits required to encode a message.

Three things followed:

> He defined the bit - the fundamental unit of all information. His colleague John Tukey coined the name.

> He proved the channel capacity theorem, every communication channel has a maximum rate of reliable transmission. You can approach it. You can never exceed it.

> He unified telegraph, telephone, and radio into a single mathematical framework for the first time.

Robert Lucky of Bell Labs called it the greatest work "in the annals of technological thought."

Where his equation lives in AI today:

Cross-entropy loss - the function training every classifier and language model, is derived directly from H. Decision tree splits use information gain, which is H applied to data. Perplexity, the standard LLM evaluation metric, is an exponentiation of cross-entropy.

Every time a neural network trains, Shannon's formula runs inside it.

He also built the first AI learning device.

In 1950, Shannon built Theseus, a mechanical mouse that navigated a maze through trial and error, learned the correct path, and repeated it perfectly. Mazin Gilbert of Bell Labs said: "Theseus inspired the whole field of AI."

That same year he published the first paper on programming a computer to play chess. He co-organized the 1956 Dartmouth Workshop, the founding event of AI as a field.

The man:
He rode a unicycle through Bell Labs hallways while juggling. He built a flame-throwing trumpet, a rocket-powered Frisbee, and Styrofoam shoes to walk on the lake behind his house.

He called his home Entropy House.

When asked what motivated him: "I was motivated by curiosity. Never by the desire for financial gain. I just wondered how things were put together."

In 1985, he appeared unexpectedly at a conference in Brighton. The crowd mobbed him for autographs. Persuaded to speak at the banquet, he talked briefly, then pulled three balls from his pockets and juggled instead.

One engineer said: "It was as if Newton had showed up at a physics conference."

He died in 2001 after a decade with Alzheimer's, the cruel irony of information slowly leaving the mind of the man who defined what information was.

Claude, the AI model, is named after Claude Shannon, the mathematician who laid the foundation for the digital world we rely on today.

[Ella Frei @EllaFrei17]

My name is Ella, I'm 17 years old.
I do long jump. I play volleyball. I go to school in New Richmond, Wisconsin.
When my school allowed a biological male into the girls' restroom without telling parents —
I went to the school board.
With my name attached.
In my own town.
I got bullied for it. Harassed online. Even some of my own teachers came after me.
I'm still here.
Because here's what I know:
The net in women's volleyball is set nearly a foot lower for a reason.
A biological male can hit a ball across that net at force that could seriously injure a girl.
And in track — all it takes is three biological males entering the girls' category
and not a single girl in this state stands on a podium.
I didn't speak up because it was easy.
I spoke up because somebody had to.
The Supreme Court is about to answer the question every girl in America is asking.
We're ready.
@JenniferSey
@xx_xyathletics

[Stu thats all you get🇺🇸🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 @Boldyboy1975]

What do you call a factory that makes just okay products?

A Satisfactory! 🤣🥴

[Martin Bauer @martinmbauer]

Physicists find material with almost 3 times the thermal conductivity of copper that could improve heat management of electronics significantly

“Our result breaks the historic ceiling for heat transport in metallic materials”

https://t.co/fxIA7xvcbo

[Jim Guenther @jimg48]

Amazing Technology

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Artemis II is not just going "to the Moon," but rather traveling to meet it at an exact point in space.

It’s all about orbital mechanics.

[Connor Essegian @CEssegian]

CHRIST IS KING 👑✝️

[Matt Whitlock @MattWhitlock]

The dishonesty from Virginia Dems is just so brazen.

In Spanberger's video she says the gerrymandering referendum "preserves Virginia's fair redistricting process" in the future.

It THROWS OUT Virginia's popular redistricting process - but they need to PRETEND to trick voters.

[Jim Guenther @jimg48]

Why is his position the opposite of the signs he shows? Answer: because he doesn't care about these people, and is only trying to improve his political situation. He has taken away salaries from TSA and continues to pay ICE.

[Thomas Sowell Quotes @ThomasSowell]

Hakeem Jeffries: "We're going to continue to make sure there are secure borders, but we do have a broken immigration system and we should fix it in a bipartisan way."

[The Babylon Bee @TheBabylonBee]

CNN Reports On Japanese Teenagers Who Came To Hawaii For What Could've Been Beautiful Day At Beach https://t.co/DFlQVXoTuV

[🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 @mrddmia]

This is the most dishonest reporting we’ve seen in a long time.

Two jihadis threw two IEDs into a crowd of anti-Zohran protesters.

On video.

Yet NBC reports these bombs were “found.”

And implies they belonged to the conservative protesters.

Truly a new low in journalism.

[Jim Guenther @jimg48]

Good post!

[Collin Rugg @CollinRugg]

NEW: Crowd goes absolutely nuts as Team USA female hockey stars Hilary Knight and Megan Keller are brought on stage during Saturday Night Live.

The women were introduced after Team USA men’s stars Jack and Quinn Hughes.

“It was gonna be just us, but we thought we'd invite the guys, too.”

[Jim Guenther @jimg48]

From someone whose foreign policy knowledge is so poor that she doesn't even know what our Taiwan policy is, she should remain silent on this issue, so she doesn't make a fool of herself again.

[Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @RepAOC]

My statement on President Trump’s combat operations in Iran⬇️

[Jim Guenther @jimg48]

Perfect video! Pro-Iran Leadership protests in the US, but pro-American celebration in Iran, where the leadership was just removed. Why is the Left against everything that is good in the world?

[Laura Loomer @LauraLoomer]

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO:

Anti-Trump and pro-Ayatollah protesters are out in burqas, flying the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran right outside the White House. The anti-Trump, Jew-hate movement is literally brain mush. How deranged do you have to be to wave the flag of the Iranian regime outside of the White House while President Trump is working to keep Americans safe?

TREASON!

[Jim Guenther @jimg48]

Why argue about nonsense? Offense or defense against our President makes no sense at all. What about arguing about what is best for Americans and working together to make Americans better off?

[POLITICO @politico]

Dem @SenatorSlotkin tells our @DashaBurns she thinks her party's divide is among those who want to play defense vs. offense against Trump.

"The idea of not going on offense...frankly sometimes still bewilders me," she said on #TheConversation.

Watch: https://t.co/YYB0k51Ty8

[Jim Guenther @jimg48]

Good commentary on the US Women's hockey team.

[Riley Gaines @Riley_Gaines_]

My thoughts on Trumps comments about USA Women's Hockey Team:

1) If you're mad about this but don't believe women should have a category free of men, you're just an unserious person.

2) not going to lie, I face-palmed when I heard it. I knew exactly how it would be spun. I know his humor, but this one missed the mark IMO.

3) Trump is the reason true women's hockey exists. USA women's hockey has just recently voted to ban men from women's hockey (hasn't instituted it yet). Wouldn't have happened without Trump's EO. There are teams with as many as four men on one USA hockey women's team (Minnesota). How can people claim he doesn't care about women's hockey when his EO is the reason true women's hockey will exist at all?

4) it's unfair to disparage the men's team over taking the phone call, going to SOTU, being proud to be an American, etc. They've been incredibly supportive and congratulatory of the women's team. Jack Hughes said Megan Keller's golden goal in the women's game was his inspiration to do the same. Stop trying to pit them against each other.

5) I wish the women would attend Trump's SOTU address. They were invited just as the men were. I think their attendance would've inspired young girls across the country and been significant for the sport of women's hockey. I hope it really was just a scheduling issue they couldn't be there.

6) in general, there's a group of people so anti-America that they genuinely hate patriotism. They don't want unity. They'll use an inspiring sports story to tear down the man in the Oval Office. Y'all are weird. My heart swells with pride for both the men's and women's team.

6) there is still a ton of work needing to be done to protect women's sports and the threats they face (abusive coaches, NIL, adequate funding & resources, etc). I'll continue to use my contacts and platform to advocate for these things and encourage others to do the same.

[Zach Heilprin @ZachHeilprin]

The Wisconsin game will be starting at this time tomorrow.

[Walter Curt @wcdispatch]

The Democrats are very angry about this representation of their “Affordability Queen”, Abigail Spamburger.

I think it’s perfect.

[Jim Guenther @jimg48]

We love the Dutch fans; they’re the best!

[Seth Dillon @SethDillon]

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