0100000000010000 — ((better))

Every binary string tells two stories: the cold, deterministic story of logic gates and the creative, open-ended story of what we choose it to mean. In this small 16-bit fragment, we see the entire foundation of digital existence: .

[ 0 \times 2^{15} + 1 \times 2^{14} + 0 \times 2^{13} + \dots + 1 \times 2^{1} + 0 \times 2^{0} ] [ = 2^{14} + 2^{1} = 16384 + 2 = 16386 ] 0100000000010000

The positions (from left to right) correspond to powers of two: (2^{15}) down to (2^0). Only bits at positions (2^{14}) and (2^1) are set to 1 (since the string has a 1 in the second position and another 1 in the second-to-last position). Thus: Every binary string tells two stories: the cold,