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Washington D.C.: Spartan, 1962.致谢我要向以下给我提供了种种帮助的人表示感谢：查尔斯·本内特、格雷戈里·蔡廷、尼尔·斯隆（Neil J. A. Sloane）、苏珊娜·凯勒（Susanna Cuyler）、贝蒂·香农、诺尔玛·巴尔兹曼、约翰·辛普森、彼得·吉利弗、吉米·威尔士、约瑟夫·施特劳斯（Joseph Straus）、克雷格·汤森（Craig Townsend）、詹娜·莱文（Janna Levin）、凯瑟琳·布顿（Katherine Bouton）、丹·梅纳克（Dan Menaker）、埃丝特·朔尔（Esther Schor）、西沃恩·罗伯茨（Siobhan Roberts）、侯世达、马丁·塞利格曼（Martin Seligman）、克里斯托弗·富克斯、已故的约翰·阿奇博尔德·惠勒、卡洛·哈钦斯（Carol Hutchins），以及贝蒂·亚历山德拉·图尔（Betty Alexandra Toole）。还要感谢我的经纪人迈克尔·卡莱尔（Michael Carlisle），以及一如既往地，我的编辑丹·弗兰克（Dan Frank），感谢他的才智和耐心。图片版权97 Photograph courtesy of the Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis172 The New York Times Archive/Redux210 Copyright Robert Lord214 Reprinted with permission from Journal Franklin Institute, vol. 262, E. F. Moore and C. E. Shannon, “Reliable Circuits Using Less Reliable Rays,” pp. 191–208, 1956, with permission from Elsevier.217 Taken from Claude Elood Shannon Collected Papers, ed. NJA Sloane & Aaron Wyner 1993 IEEE219 Taken from Claude Elood Shannon Collected Papers, ed. NJA Sloane & Aaron Wyner 1993 IEEE226 Mary E. Shannon232 Alfred Eisenstaedt/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images245 Keystone/Stringer/Hulton Archive/Getty Images256 Alfred Eisenstaedt/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images343 Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech350 Christopher Fuchs译后记 （我们是谁，我们来自哪里，我们去向何方）我的反应是以深刻的内省和实证精神为坚实基础的，是作为暗喻的回声，是作为信息的游戏——同小孩子单纯的鹦鹉学舌有着本质区别。——村上春树（1988）前几日信手翻阅最新一期的《连线》（Wired）杂志，读到了下面这段描写人类活动的文字：仅仅一天之内，人类就会产生数以百万计的书籍写作那么大的价值。在全球范围内，我们一共发送了1546亿封电子邮件，发了4亿条微博，还在 WordPress上写了超过100万篇博客文章，并留下了200万条博客评论。在 Facebook上，我们一共写了16亿字。总之，我们每天会在电子邮件和社交媒体写上约3.6万亿字，这相当于3600万册图书（作为对比，整个美国国会图书馆才不过拥有约2300万册图书）。刚刚读完《信息简史》的您一定还有印象：美国国会图书馆的信息量，正是当年克劳德·香农勾勒的信息量估算表中位于顶端的最大信息量载体。而现如今，借助触手可及、无孔不入的信息输出和接收工具，人类每天需要面对的新生信息已经超过了过去几千年以来的总和。即使在中国的偏远地区生活的人们，也已经看上了电视，用上了手机。如果说仅仅数年前，人类还在被爆炸的信息巨擘挟带着向前踉跄，那么以今天的视角来看，说主流社会已经完全把运行的基础切换到了信息流动之上亦不为过。不是吗？人们已经学会了在每一次购物之际，都会将欲购商品与全球所有的同类商品从质量到价格、从包装到物流全方位地比较一番；在每一次旅游出行之前，都不仅会查看交通路线，并且会研究各种攻略，了解程度之详尽甚至使当地人也相形见绌。政府在制定政策之前，也早已不再采用传统方法通过人工手段收集所需的材料，而是通过各种专家模型在接收实时海量数据的条件下，完成带有多方博弈和风险预估的精密计算。更不必说现代的商业和军事战争，已经实实在在地演变成了信息战，比对方提前一秒掌握信息，都有可能将形势彻底扭转。正是因为信息已经真正地变得无所不在，所以人们往往会忽略它的存在。就像自然数，就像空气，就像语言，就像时间，人类在蒙昧未开的时代就已经先入为主地被它们所占领。结果，对它们的理解反而成了最困难的事。对于一出生就以为是自然而然的事物，对其展开思辩、追本溯源，除了要在浩如烟海的资料中披荆斩棘之外，更大的障碍来自于太擅长自欺的人心。很多时候，真理和真相不是没有近在眼前，甚至变换着各种表现想引起我们的注意，我们却对其视而不见。但是信息与上面列举的这些事物相比，又有几个很显著的特点。首先，信息并不是一种能够以意识直接接触，并通过直观感受就能够得出认识的事物，它需要经过抽象的过程才能完成认识。其次，虽然信息在本质上只是一种二元选择，但要从具体的物理过程中分析出信息量的度量方法，却决不像乍看之下那么简单。事实上，当代的科学分析发现，信息极有可能与决定万物根本属性的熵增方向，与物理学中事物的运动和相互作用中最神秘莫测的量子力学，以及将信息与视界隔绝开来的黑洞息息相关。再次，信息虽然在人类社会实践和科学实验中以各种各样的原始形式发展了成百上千年，但是对它建立了真正的理性认识，却还是上个世纪中叶左右的事。这些特点都意味着，趁着人类还没有忘记信息主宰一切的时代之前的社会和科技形态，在这样关键的时间点上进行一次深刻的反思，是极其重要、功德无量的。更难得的是，也还仍然来得及。所以，《信息简史》就是这样的一本书。它的前半部分描写了人类饱含着艰辛，又照耀着智慧光芒的一部历史。这里面包括非洲部落的原始通信工具、人类口语从神话传说到哲学论证的演化进程、作为符号固定剂的书写运动和通信标准化的辞书和码本、机械时代的巨匠先驱打造的工程奇迹，直至逐渐将信息的意义外壳彻底剥离，建立近代和现代的通信系统，并通过数学和理性将无关紧要的细节去除，洞察到信息的本质。作为承前启后的历史人物，克劳德·香农终于发表出了一篇宏论：《通信的数学理论》。这是人类第一次系统、全面、理性地认识信息，也是第一次赋予了“信息”一词精准的定义，从此奠定了一门新的学科——信息学。而几乎与此同时，图灵和哥德尔也分别达到了密码学和形式系统的巅峰，这真是信息史上的英雄时代！接下来，我们就看到信息学犹如一股洪流，在一个又一个的领域里掀起了颠覆性的革命：心理学、热力学、遗传学、传播学、量子力学，不一而足。每一门学科在经受了信息学洗礼后，面貌都焕然一新，不仅在技术上有了长足的进步，而且更重要的是在哲学思辨上大大地深化了。书的收尾用了浓墨重彩，讲述了信息学如何通过建立“全球知识”和全人类范围内的关系连接，深刻地改造了人类的社会形态和生活方式。全书以意义的解构和重新建构为线索，在几乎一切细节上都铺陈了大量精确到位、有血有肉的史实。可以说，关于信息学前世今生的全部主要内容，在本书中都可以找到权威、详尽的参考。原书的副标题是“一部历史，一个理论，一股洪流”，可以说是史中有论，论中有情，情中有理。这确实是一部科学传播读物中的上佳之作。当初接手这本书的翻译时，对原著的难度之高可谓始料未及。译到第2、3章时，才发现里面有大量的涉及考古学和语言学的专业翻译要求。但彼时已经深深被原著博大精深的编排和风趣生动的文字吸引，欲罢而不能。在此处，幸得家父高学栋博士在文科的专业和内容方面的双重指导。而全书翻译成稿以后，又得图灵公司楼伟珊、李松峰编辑的费心润色，达于句词，本书在可读性方面，才总算有了交代。最终的定稿还经东南大学信号与信息处理学科主任、哈佛大学访问科学家王桥教授通读，提出了修改意见数十条。加上本人初译时的些微努力，《信息简史》乃六易其稿，方得定案。其中虽然艰辛反复难以备述，却同时又是一个与作者的天才思想和史学探索亲密接触的极高享受。现在这成果就呈现在读者面前，希望大家能免其苦，而尽其乐。本书成稿过程中，承香港浸会大学数学系系主任汤涛教授，上海交通大学计算机科学系黄林鹏、张尧弼和梁阿磊教授，EMC中国卓越研发集团林应经理和林向东工程师，SAP美国劳佳工程师和SAP中国范德成工程师看顾，以及图灵社区上的网友 acid-free、贾洪峰，对译稿提出过意见，对本人提出过鼓励。更要感谢父母和爱妻沈靓全家对我在翻译全过程中倾力投入而对家事疏于过问的谅解和支持。希望本书的出版，能给你们带来快乐。