What is a UBI?

A UBI is either a Useful Bit of Information or a Useless Bit of Information depending on the point of view of the person. The word useful connotes meaning of use; serviceable; producing or able to produce good results while the word useless signifies serving no purpose; unavailing; feeble or ineffectual.

Further, the word bit is derived from the words binary + digit. In computing, a bit is a unit of information expressed as a choice between two possibilities in the form of a single digit in the binary system—zero (0) or one (1). By definition, a bit is a small piece or quantity; a fair amount; somewhat; rather; only a little; a mere; and a short time or distance.

Information of course is defined as something told; knowledge; items of knowledge; news; law usually followed by against a charge or complaint lodged with a court or magistrate; the act of informing or telling; and an instance of this.

Moreover, there is actually an information theory, which stems from a branch of applied mathematics and electrical engineering involving the quantification of information. This theory was developed by Claude E. Shannon in order to find fundamental limits on compressing and reliably storing and communicating data.

Furthermore, the theory has expanded to include statistical inference, natural language processing, cryptography, networks other than communication networks such as in neurobiolidy, the evolution and function of molecular codes, model selection in ecology, thermal physics, quantum computing, plagiarism detection, and other forms of data analysis as well.

A key measure of information in the theory is known as entropy, which is usually expressed by the average number of bits needed for storage or communication. Entropy is a concept of information maintaining great importance in physics, chemistry, and the above aforemtioned information theory though it also has applications in mathematics and other branches of science and engineering.

When given a system whose exact description is unknown, its entropy is defined as the amount of information needed to exactly specify the state of the system to the full extent that it can be described in the universe itself. This is because entropy represents the "potential for disorder" in a system. When a system has more degrees of freedom and more constituents, there are more possible states for it to occupy.

Intuitively, entropy quantifies the uncertainty involved when encountering a random variable. For example, a fair coin flip (2 equally likely outcomes) will have less entropy than a roll of a die (6 equally likely outcomes).

The basic concept UBIs is quite facinating and intriguing! Also, it can spand several topics and actually covers all aspects of life if one thinks about it. I first heard the term UBI in the year 2000 from a dear colleague of mine named John A. Favor, who worked for the Port of Long Beach in the capacity of Marketing Manager. John had worked in the shipping industry for over twenty-five (25) years and had worked for both the private and public sectors. He had heard his share of UBI’s and I remember that he would always share one with me, customers or an audience while making his pitch or giving a presentation about the port. It was generally not only didactic yet very interesting and quite entertaining as well. It would certainly easy the crowd and break up the ice or monotony prior to a speech or discourse.

Surprisingly, there is an actual society of useless information that formed years ago and has written numerous books on the subject. Moreover, many people have either written, spoken or blogged UBI’s in books, articles, in person, over the phone, or the internet at one point in time. Practice using UBIs, you will find that they are useful, useless, didactic yet entertaining! Trying it for yourself!