Jibit

Introduction The jibit, coined by Alfred Jibet in 1917, is any object that produces a bit of Shannon information.

Examples The telegraph typer, as a source of information, produces a bit, and is therefore a jibit. If I wish to talk in Morse code, I might use a jibit. But if I wish to talk about a set of four words, I might employ 2 jibits, which are distinguishable by nature, and produce the following configurations (xx,xy,yx,yy) thus one configuration per word. If however, medium depending, if a bit is indistinguishable from the jibit that produces it, as with 2 telegraph typers, then they produce a sum of 3 bits, as XY is indistinguishable from YX. Even a paddle striking a liquid medium might be considered a jibit, 2 or 3 paddles produce waves either a) simultaneously b) by either jibit or c) not at all (no waves). If I have 2 indistinguishable jibits, I might talk in Morse code, but since the jibits are indistinguishable, you cannot discern which jibit made a given bit. This is called jibit encoding, that for instance, 2 telegraph typers can both "talk" in Morse code. It is a matter of form and debate what precisely in nature is considered a jibit.

Encoding

If I wish by some random jibit (flipping a coin) or by determination to encode the set of words in the English dictionary into binary strings, one binary string for each word, then I can encode English sentences with Morse code, and can communicate an English sentence using one or more jibits, whether distinguishable or not. Human communication is jibit-like, where the communicators (a generalization of a jibit) are distinguishable, as Alice from Bob from Cal, as when they communicate, I can discern "who" communicated "what" on perception. The same principle applies to chess games, that I might use N binary strings to represent N valid chess configurations. However, to communicate a set of N things, I need log2(N) jibits. For instance, one jibit, in a technical sense, communicates 2 things (up or down, yin or yang, etc). But 2 jibits, which are distinguishable, communicate 4 things. Thus for N things, such as N chess configurations, I need log2(N) distinguishable jibits, and far more indistinguishable jibits.

References

• Shannon, C. E., & Weaver, W. (1949). The mathematical theory of communication. at the Internet Archive University of Illinois Press.

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