The Illusion of Reality
The Illusion of Reality was conceived during my tenure as director of the newly established Division of Information Science and Technology at the National Science Foundation in 1979-1981 as a partial response to the need for a textbook for students, both
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Howard L. Resnikoff
The Illusion of Reality With 189 Illustrations
Springer-Verlag New York Berlin Heidelberg London Paris Tokyo
Howard L. Resnikoff Aware, Inc. One Cambridge Center Cambridge, MA 02142 USA
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Resnikoff, Howard L. The illusion of reality. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Infonnation theory. 2. Information science. I. Title. 001.53'9 87-9681 Q360.R395 1987
© 1989 by Springer-Verlag New York Inc. Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover lst edition 1989 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written pennission of the publisher (Springer-Verlag, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York. New York 10010, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any fonn of infonnation storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, etc. in this publication. even if the former are not especially identified, is not to be taken as a sign that such names, as understood by the Trade Marks and Merchandise Marks Act, may accordingly be used freely by anyone. Typeset by Asco Trade Typesetting, Ltd., Hong Kong.
9 8 7 6 54 32 I ISBN-13:978-1-4612-8115-3
e-ISBN-13:978-1-4612-3474-6
DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4612-3474-6
To Joan
Yes, I have tricks in my pocket, I have things up my sleeve. But I am the opposite of a stage magician. He gives you the illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you truth in the pleasant guise of illusion. -Tennessee WILLIAMS, The Glass Menagerie
Strangely enough, there was always a period when all hands had to get used to the fresh air. When it first came in, it smelled awful. For hours we had been accustomed to air impregnated with cooking odors and other smells, and the fresh air was almost disgusting for a few minutes. -Captain George GRIDER, USN
Preface
The Illusion of Reality was conceived during my tenure as director of the newly established Division of Information Science and Technology at the National Science Foundation in 1979-1981 as a partial response to the need for a textbook for students, both in and out of government, that would provide a comprehensive view of information science as a fundamental constituent of other more established disciplines with a unity and coherence distinct from computer science, cognitive science, and library science although it is related to all of them. Driven by the advances of information technology, the perception of information science has progressed rapidly: today it seems well understood that information processing biological organisms and information processing electronic machines have something basic in common that may subsume the theory of computation, as well as fundamental parts of physics. This book is primarily intended as a text for an advanced undergraduate or a graduate introduction to information science. The multidisc
