Is the world Analog or Digital?

The real world isn't either analog or digital, but both. Analog and digital signals are mathematical representations of reality and is useful when we want to process information. We can recognize whether or not something is analog or digital by wave forms. Digital signals often show square shapes and analog shows no obvious pattern but sometimes shows a recognizable shape like a sine wave. Because of this, we can sometimes form an opinion about the type of signal by recognizing wave forms. There is no absolute certainty, by just examining a real signal pattern and whether or not it carries information in either digital or analog form. However, we use voltage patterns or currents to carry information in many ways, but the terms ‘digital’ or ‘analog’ really refer to the way we process information, not some inherent property of the voltage or current itself. Any real signals will have both analog and digital characteristics. Everything we perceive however is in analog. Digital information, on the other hand, estimates analog data using only ones and zeros. For example, a turntable (or record player) is an analog device, while a CD player is digital. This is because a turntable reads bumps and grooves from a record as a continuous signal, while a CD player only reads a series of ones and zeros. Likewise, a VCR is an analog device, while a DVD player is digital. A VCR reads audio and video from a tape as a continuous stream of information, while a DVD player just reads ones and zeros from a disc. Since digital devices read only ones and zeros, they can only approximate an audio or video signal. This means analog data is actually more accurate than digital data. However, digital data can can be manipulated easier and preserved better than analog data. More importantly, computers can only handle digital data, which is why most information today is stored