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content/shard/redundancy.md

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+title = "redundancy.md"
+glassblower = ["cristobalsciutto.md"]
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+When a message is transmitted across a channel, in ![Shannon](bib:435722df-f5d6-4b80-9e5b-addd8bf43467)'s terminology, it is beneficial (in terms of bandwidth scarcity) to compress the message into the shortest possible code. This is only feasible because natural language features redundancy to clarify meaning and avoid misunderstanding.
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+Given a fixed context, agreed upon on both sides of the channel, the redundancy can be eliminated. The context implies a distribution of possible messages, from which an optimal encoding can be deduced, as determined by Shannon's theory of information. Schematically, in a military context, the context in which most information technology originated, the options "launch the missile" and "retreat the troops" can be reduced to a single bit: 0 or 1.
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+It is critical to note that this is context-dependent. Compression is conditional on who is receiving the message, a process that is reified through deterministic encoders and decoders, e.g. h264 for video transmission.
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+Nonetheless, redundancy is not completely discarded. The channel along which the encoded message is sent is not necessarily reliable. A noisy channel may accidentally flip a bit in the message sent. In our new formalized encoding, redundancy is re-introduced to attenuate these problems. For example, an additional parity bit may be used to increase the probability of an altered code being detected, avoiding miscommunication.