A few short decades ago, we were informed by the smooth signals of analog television and radio; we communicated using our analog telephones; and we even computed with analog computers. Today our world is digital, built with zeros and ones. Why did this revolution occur? The Discrete Charm of the Machine explains, in an engaging and accessible manner, the varied physical and logical reasons behind this radical transformation.
The spark of individual genius shines through this story of innovation: the stored program of Jacquard’s loom; Charles Babbage’s logical branching; Alan Turing’s brilliant abstraction of the discrete machine; Harry Nyquist’s foundation for digital signal processing; Claude Shannon’s breakthrough insights into the meaning of information and bandwidth; and Richard Feynman’s prescient proposals for nanotechnology and quantum computing. Ken Steiglitz follows the progression of these ideas in the building of our digital world, from the internet and artificial intelligence to the edge of the unknown. Are questions like the famous traveling salesman problem truly beyond the reach of ordinary digital computers? Can quantum computers transcend these barriers? Does a mysterious magical power reside in the analog mechanisms of the brain? Steiglitz concludes by confronting the moral and aesthetic questions raised by the development of artificial intelligence and autonomous robots.
The Discrete Charm of the Machine examines why our information technology, the lifeblood of our civilization, became digital, and challenges us to think about where its future trajectory may lead.
Ken Steiglitz is professor emeritus of computer science and senior scholar at Princeton University. His books include Combinatorial Optimization, A Digital Signal Processing Primer, and Snipers, Shills, and Sharks (Princeton). He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.
"Computer scientist Steiglitz examines the global transformation from analog to digital and the ways it changed how we calculate, communicate and entertain ourselves. He describes the nuts and bolts of taking something analog, such as waves traveling through the air that make sound, and converting them into 0s and 1s, all in witty and cogent language."—Clara Moskowitz, Scientific American
"This is an engaging and enjoyable book. Readers interested in the differences between analogue and digital approaches to computation and signal processing will not find a better popular treatment."—Thomas Haigh, Nature Electronics
"Reading this book was a great pleasure and there is lots to be effusive about. . . .this book deserves to be read by everyone interested in, or influenced by, modern digital technologies. When you think about it, this is pretty much everyone. So, in this reviewer's opinion, this book is destined to become a modern classic."—Rob Ashmore, Mathematics Today
“Well written and well organized, The Discrete Charm of the Machine discusses the transition from analog to digital both in technology and in the way we approach problems in computing. With an expansive scope that ranges from low-level physics to high-level questions about the limitations of computation, this is a welcome book in the field.”—Lance Fortnow, author of The Golden Ticket
“The Discrete Charm of the Machine is a fun book! Steiglitz has a beautiful writing style that mixes hardcore facts with playful observations.”—William Cook, author of In Pursuit of the Traveling Salesman
“Written by one of the pioneers of digital signal processing, The Discrete Charm of the Machine takes readers on an entertaining, accessible stroll through the history of the conversion of computer and entertainment technology from analog to digital. Steiglitz clearly had fun composing this enjoyable book.”—Alan V. Oppenheim, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
“The Discrete Charm of the Machine is an inspirational must-read and delightful guide for anyone interested in traveling from the computational past through to the present. Reading this book will make you rethink what computation really is.”—Andrew Adamatzky, University of the West of England
