# Numbers Let Us Model and Predict the World by George Johnson > “Surely one of the most powerful earthly inventions has been the ability to represent any phenomenon with numbers — either analogue or digital — and then use this representation to predict outcomes in the real world. This information revolution actually began before the year zero with the Pythagoreans and has advanced through stages that include the invention of calculus and, most recently, boolean algebra and all the advantages of digital modeling.” > **— George Johnson**, *1999 Edge Annual Question, response passage* ## Sources and Context - **Original Edge response:** [Writer for The New York Times — George Johnson](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/11565) — a verbatim passage from George Johnson's 1999 Annual Question response, expressing the author's position at the time. The linked response supplies its surrounding context. - **Local archival entry:** [[research/Edge 1999 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 1999 Full Quotation Curation]] (EDGE1999-017). ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Art is Long|The Art is Long]] - **Article:** [[articles/Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer|Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer]] - **Article:** [[articles/Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution|Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Predictive Modeling|Predictive Modeling]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “Surely one of the most powerful earthly inventions has been the ability to represent any phenomenon with numbers — either analogue or digital — and then use this representation to predict outcomes in the real world. This information revolution actually began before the year zero with the Pythagoreans and has advanced through stages that include the invention of calculus and, most recently, boolean algebra and all the advantages of digital modeling.” — George Johnson, 1999 Edge Annual Question https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-george-johnson-numbers-let-us-model-predict ```