Silence on the Wire

Parasitic Storage: The Early Days

When you shout, acoustic waves move through the air, gradually losing energy and dispersing in all directions. However, if they encounter a solid obstacle along the way they will likely bounce, and, if the angle is just right, they will bounce back to you. The audible result is that a split second after shouting you will hear an echo of your own voice.

But what happens when an information theory geek reads their code aloud standing on the top of a mountain, directing their words toward a rocky valley? I thought you’d never ask. In such case, they cannot help but make a clever observation: if they read it fast and then immediately forget about what they just recited (because they become preoccupied with other matters), ...