From ancient Jewish texts to androids to AI, a just-right sequence of numbers or letters turns matter into meaning

The power of putting basic elements in just the right order is key to both Jewish mysticism and computer coding. WhataWin/iStock via Getty Images PlusIsaac Asimov’s iconic science fiction collection “I, Robot” tells the story of androids created at U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men, Inc. The androids range from “Robbie,” who is nonvocal, to “Stephen Byerley,” who may or may not be a robot – he is so humanlike that people can’t tell. Yet each model is made of the same elementary components: the bina