What’s Wrong with Analog?

We use the words signal and noise in everyday speech. Opinionated music lovers mean one thing when they speak of noise, insomniacs something different, stock traders yet something else. Scientists and engineers use the words in the following specialized way: A signal is the part of what we perceive that carries information to us. Noise is what we perceive that carries no information, but rather tends to obscure the signal. Over the past few decades this slightly more technical usage has diffused into general usage, most notably in economics reportage. For example, reporters on the Federal Reserve Bank’s policy pronouncements