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Re:Computation as a Universal and Fundamental Concept by jibal on Saturday July 11, 2026 @02:49AM (#48869445)
> It’s not just an analogy or a coincidence that the word “entropy” is a word used in both physics and computer science (information theory).

Shannon asked von Neumann what to call it, and von Neumann said "You should call it entropy, for two reasons: In the first place your uncertainty function has been used in statistical mechanics under that name, so it already has a name. In the second place, and more important, nobody knows what entropy really is, so in a debate you will always have the advantage."

Re:Computation as a Universal and Fundamental Concept by Robotbeat on Saturday July 11, 2026 @09:58AM (#48872128)
I’m aware of the von Neumann joke.

There is, however, a direct equivalence between them derived from the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landauer's_principle

Re:Computation as a Universal and Fundamental Concept by jibal on Saturday July 11, 2026 @07:19PM (#48876767)
Um, only the second part was a joke. The first part was confirmation of your statement that it's not just an analogy or coincidence ... and Shannon followed von Neumann's advice (not joke).