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The Matrix

scrap [chip] substantive 1. A single, basic unit of information, used in connection with computers and information theory. A binary diginformation technology.

Modernistic society is ruled, dominated, and slavishly beholden to one of flesh'south most elementary machinations: The binary digit. Whether it is a flash of light, surge of electrons, or carpeting held over a smoky fire, the chip just represents on or off, and however information technology underpins almost every facet of human life. Without $.25 and bytes, almost anything that is more circuitous than opening a window or taking the trash out would exist incommunicable.

Without bits, your computer would not work. Heck, without bits the equipment used to brand your computer wouldn't work — your computer would simply cease to be. Without $.25, you wouldn't be able to make telephone calls, or surf the web on your phone. Without bits your house's heating organisation wouldn't work (and neither would the timer on your oven, or your Tivo DVR). Bits and bytes are the basis for modern banking, the stock markets, tv, and of form the cyberspace.

Binary is the underlying language past which modern humans interact with the world. We might employ higher-level languages such equally English or Chinese or C++, but when information technology somewhen comes down to transmission across a network or decision-making a car, information technology's all binary. When you IM a friend, your words are encoded into bits, squirted across a network, and then decoded back into words. Ditto phone calls, SMS, and email. When you tap the brake or accelerator in your car, your foot'south movement is translated into a stream of binary bits that control an array of motors, pumps, and actuators. When you click Print in Discussion, your document — words, images, formatting and all — is rastered as a dumb fleckmap and sent to your printer.

Robot scribePerhaps more chillingly, binary is also the language by which computers and machines communicate, oft apart. Many robots, such every bit the pork ham deboner or Petman, are primarily governed by sensory feedback, which always boils down to $.25 and bytes. To have a more common example, fifty-fifty your home computer has a huge number of organisation processes that constantly communicate using binary, frequently without any homo interaction. Stuxnet, the virus that reportedly damaged Iran's uranium enrichment program, was only possible because virtually of the world's industrial machines are controlled by SCADA figurer systems, which of class solely operate and communicate using bits.

Our reliance on bits grows every day. It was only a few years agone that Television receiver (and cinema!) was predominantly analog, and at present it's almost entirely digital: Gratuitous-to-air digital Television, DVDs, Netflix, Hulu, Tivo, cable, satellite, 5K Cherry-red cameras; it's all digital. Radio is moving slower, just eventually it too will make the spring. Even the printed word — the technology that bootstrapped this scientific, high-tech globe that we live in — is going digital, thanks to the Kindle and iPad.

Your household probably still has a lot of analog equipment — taps, door locks, toasters — but with digital thermostats, smart appliances, automation, multi-room sound systems, and blanket WiFi, digital is definitely making inroads. Homes aren't rebuilt very often, and so it will take time for digital bits to fully usurp their clunky, rusted, whirring, analog ancestors, merely eventually your house will simply be another node on the internet. If you look at offices, shops, and other commercial spaces that are constantly rejuvenated, you can already encounter automatic faucets, automatic doors, digital displays and billboards, and myriad other binary-powered devices.

Side by side page: The king of bits

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