Definitions HQ

Noise (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠too much surprise: a perfectly random signal tells you no more than a perfectly regular one, and information lives in the narrow band between the hiss and the drone.

Noise (n.) can ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠only be recorded by a medium quieter than itself: fine flat sand cannot be photographed on film whose grain is as big as a grain of sand.

Noise (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the grain of the medium showing through: the hiss on a tape and the speckle in a photograph are the same fact, that everything recorded is made of separate particles.

The Noise (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not neutral: because it is colored rather than white, it can feed an image so well that it passes for a perception.

Noise (n.) from ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠an engine is nothing in itself; only a change in its rhythm counts as information, and only for someone who has invented or reinvented the machine.