13 Information and communication

Human beings are essentially defined by their ability to generate, convey, and understand information: hence our species is called Homo sapiens (Latin for “wise man”). While many living species and even machines send, receive and respond to signals, humans – so far as we know – are unique in the high level of conscious, conceptual organization they employ in the use information. It is no accident that the growth of technologies to communicate and process information and the growth of physics have co-evolved since the times of Gutenberg (1395-1468) and Copernicus (1473-1543). The wide dissemination of printed texts fueled the growth of physics during the scientific revolution of the 16^thand 17^thcenturies; this eventually produced profound further developments in communication. The ability to generate and manipulate electric currents led to the telegraph; the development of electromagnetic theory resulted in radio communication; lasers and fiber optics give us the high capacity communication that we use today. Meanwhile, steam power and precision mechanisms created a first stage of industrial automation that was then profoundly changed with the development of electronic digital computers and robotics. These technologies depend on deep physical understanding of the physical behavior of semiconductors and other materials for sensing and information processing. Magneto-electric relay switching networks for telephone communication have evolved into solid-state and optical technologies for switching packets of information through the Internet, so that we perceive as instantaneous our access to information from sources that are thousands of kilometers distant. The World Wide Web itself originated in the aim of physics community to rapidly share discoveries and ideas. All of this as well as advanced display, sound reproduction, and imaging technologies are now packed into hand-held information and communication devices available to human beings all around the globe.

In the context of these amazing technical advances, we now ask: what can physicists conceive and do so that our tremendous capacity to generate and share information improves the well-being of all people?