CogS 4350 - the Information of Meaning

Winter, 2007

This is the home page for CogS 4350 - the Information of Meaning, Winter, 2007.

Various things may be added here as the semester progresses, so be sure to check back . . .

Syllabus

These are the primary books we will be working with:

1. Digital Culture, by Charlie Gere. Published by Reaktion Books, Ltd. ISBN 1-861-89143-1
2. An Introduction to Information Theory, 2nd revised edition, by John R. Pierce. Published by Dover Publications, ISBN 0-486-24061-4
3. A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller, Jr. Published by Bantam Books. ISBN 0-553-37926-7
4. The Gold Bug Variations, by Richard Powers. Published by Harper Perennial. ISBN 0-06-097500-8

The Theory Notes (in .pdf form)

Perspective in Western art (in .pdf form -- 6.2 megabytes)

Marcel Duchamp: Fountain (from SFMOMA)

The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (see part 4, Ch. 4)

What is Life? by Erwin Schrodinger

Computing Machinery and Intelligence by A. M. Turing (fancy / annotated)

Computing Machinery and Intelligence by A. M. Turing (simple text)

Here is the reference for the essay on the "Burke" quote about good men and evil, and about quoting: Good men and evil.

Here is another reference on the sources of "quotes": quote-unquote

Here are a few items related to The Gold Bug Variations by Richard Powers:

• The classic Watson-Crick DNA paper
• The Richard Powers "Gold Bug Variations" site at UIUC
• The Goldberg Variations Site (May need a "reload" on the page)
• A fairly elaborate Gold Bug Variations Site (server problems?)
• Poe's "The Gold-bug" ,or The Gold-bug - by E. A. Poe ,or The Gold-bug - by E. A. Poe
• Two loves I have of comfort and despair
• To a young child (Margaret, are you grieving . . .)
• Gerard Manley Hopkins