In the Beginning Was Information (14 page)

Fred Hoyle makes the following remarks about the much-quoted primeval soup in which life supposedly developed according to evolutionary expectations [H4, p 526]:

I don’t know how long it is going to be before astronomers generally recognize that the combinatorial arrangement of not even one among the many thousands of biopoymers on which life depends could have been arrived at by natural processes here on the earth. Astronomers will have a little difficulty at understanding this because they will be assured by biologists that it is not so, the biologists having been assured in their turn by others that it is not so. The "others" are a group of persons who believe, quite openly, in mathematical miracles. They advocate the belief that tucked away in nature, outside of normal physics, there is a law which performs miracles.

In his book
Synthetische Artbildung (The Synthetic Formation of Kinds),
Professor Dr. Heribert Nilsson, a botanist at Lund University in Sweden, describes evolutionary doctrine as an obstacle which prevents the development of an exact biology:

The final result of all my researches and discussions is that the theory of evolution should be discarded in its entirety, because it always leads to extreme contradictions and confusing consequences when tested against the empirical results of research on the formation of different kinds of living forms and related fields. This assertion would agitate many people. Moreover: my next conclusion is that, far from being a benign natural-philosophical school of thought, the theory of evolution is a severe obstacle for biological research. As many examples show, it actually prevents the drawing of logical conclusions from even one set of experimental material. Because everything must be bent to fit this speculative theory, an exact biology cannot develop.

Professor Dr. Bruno Vollmert of Karlsruhe, an expert in the field of macro-molecular chemistry, has shown that all experiments purporting to support evolution miss the crux of the matter [V1]:

All hitherto published experiments about the poly-condensation of nucleotides or amino acids are irrelevant to the problem of evolution at the molecular level, because they were based on simple monomers, and not on "primeval soups" derived from Miller experiments. But poly-condensation experiments with primeval soups or the dissolved mix of substances of them are just as superfluous as attempts to construct perpetual motion machines.

A French Nobel laureate, A. Lwoff [L2], pointed out that every organism can only function in terms of the complex net of available information:

An organism is a system of interdependent structures and functions. It consists of cells, and the cells are made of molecules which have to cooperate smoothly. Every molecule must know what the others are doing. It must be able to receive messages and act on them.

When considering the source of this information, we can now formulate the following theorem which is based on research of many thousands of man-years:

Theorem 28:
There is no known law of nature, no known process, and no known sequence of events which can cause information to originate by itself in matter.

This was also the conclusion of the seventh "International Conference on the Origins of Life" held together with the fourth congress of the "International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life (ISSOL)" in Mainz, Germany. At such occasions, scientists from all over the world exchange their latest results. In his review of the congress, Klaus Dose [D3] writes: "A further puzzle remains, namely the question of the origin of biological information, i.e., the information residing in our genes today." Not even the physical building blocks required for the storage of the information can construct themselves: "The spontaneous formation of simple nucleotides or even of poly-nucleotides which were able to be replicated on the pre-biotic earth should now be regarded as improbable in the light of the very many unsuccessful experiments in this regard."

As early as 1864, when Louis Pasteur addressed the Sorbonne University in Paris, he predicted that the theory of the spontaneous generation of living cells would never recover from the fatal blow delivered by his experiments. In this regard, Klaus Dose makes an equally important statement: "The Mainz report may have an equally important historical impact, because for the first time it has now been determined unequivocally by a large number of scientists that all evolutionary theses that living systems developed from poly-nucleotides which originated spontaneously, are devoid of any empirical base."

Chapter 7

The Three Forms in which Information Appears

Information accosts us from all sides and presents itself over a wide range of manifestations:

– From messages pounded out by drums in the jungle to telephone conversations by means of communications satellites.

– From the computer-controlled processes for producing synthetic materials to the adaptive control of rolling mills.

– In printed form from telephone directories to the Bible.

– From the technical drawings which specify the construction of a gas-driven engine to the circuit diagram of a large scale integrated computer chip.

– From the hormonal system of an organism to the navigational instincts of migrating birds.

– From the genome of a bacterium to the genetic information inherited by humans.

In addition to the five essential levels of information mentioned in chapter 4 (statistics, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and apobetics), it is also advantageous to consider a three-fold vertical division of types of information:

1. Constructional/creative information:
This includes all information which is used for the purpose of producing something. Before anything can be made, the originator mobilizes his intelligence, his supply of ideas, his know-how, and his inventiveness to encode his concept in a suitable way. There are many types of encoded blueprints, e.g., technical drawings for the construction of a machine, a cake recipe, details of the chemical processes for synthesizing polyvinyl chloride, an electrical circuit diagram, or the genetic information required for the construction of a living cell.

The criteria for evaluating the searched-for solution are found both in the conceptual stage (semantic aspect of the information) and in the sophistication of the implementation (pragmatics). One or more of the following catchwords characterize these criteria, depending on the situation, as shown in Figure 22: underlying functional concept, degree of inventiveness, cleverness of the method of solution, achieved optimality, input strategy, brevity of construction time, applied technology, suitable programming, and degree of miniaturization (e.g., economical use of material and energy). The quality of the visible results (apobetics) can be evaluated in terms of the achieved goal, the efficiency of the input, the ingenuity of the operation, and the certainty of correct functioning (e.g., low susceptibility to interference).

Figure 22: Qualitative properties of the sender and his information on the semantic, pragmatic, and apobetic levels. In this diagram we represent the qualitative properties of constructional/creative information, and include both the creative acts of God and human engineering concepts. It is obvious that there is a tight link between the qualitative aspects of the information and the capabilities of the sender. Similar qualitative properties can be formulated for the other two types of information, operational and communication information.

2. Operational information:
All concepts having the purpose of maintaining some "industry" in the widest sense of the word are included under this kind of information. Many systems require operational information in the form of programs, for proper functioning. These programs are indispensable and ensure that the preconceived processes run as expected. A barrel-organ cannot function without the required cylinder, and the human body is viable only when the conceptual information is provided with all the interactions carried by the nervous system to and from the brain and all the bodily organs. The amount of information streaming through the deliberate as well as all involuntary activities of the human body is about 3 x 10
²⁴
bits per day. When this is compared with the total quantity of information stored in all the libraries of the world — 10
¹⁸
bits — we make an astounding discovery: The quantity of information processed in our bodies during the course of one day, is one million times greater then all the knowledge represented in the books of the world.

Further examples of operational information as found in technology and in nature:

– the operating system of a computer (e.g., DOS programs),

– the program controlling a robot or a process computer,

– warning systems for airplanes and ships,

– pheromone languages of insects,

– bee dancing (see Figure 39 in appendix A2),

– the hormonal system of the body, and

– operational information in the animal kingdom, which we call "instincts" because of our lack of knowledge about their codes and methods of transfer (e.g., the navigational system of migrating birds as described in appendix A3.4.4.2).

3. Communication information:
This is composed of all other kinds of information, e.g., letters, books, phone calls, radio transmissions, bird songs, and the message of the Bible. The apobetic aspect of such information does not include the construction of a product, neither is it involved in maintaining some process. The goals are: transmission of a message, spreading joy, amusement, instruction, and personal confidences.

Chapter 8

Three Kinds of Transmitted Information

In our study of the nature of information we have come across various different distinguishing criteria:

a) Distinction according to aspect: statistics, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and apobetics

b) Distinction according to purpose: constructional/creative information, operational, and communication information

c) Distinction according to direction of flow: transmitted or received information.

Yet another distinction could also be made regarding the sender and the quality of the information processing involved. There are three types:

1. Copied information:
This is comprised of the identical propagation of existing information. No new information arises during copying, so that it is a mechanical process and not an intellectual one. The equipment and methods used for copying were created by the initiative of one or more minds, and the copying process itself is also a deliberate and purposeful action, but it can be done by a machine. Examples of copied information: Duplication of a computer program in a data processing system (e.g., magnetic tape, magnetic disk, and real memory), replication of DNA molecules in living cells, the second printing of a book without any changes or additions, making a photocopy, and reading an extract or a letter. Every piece of copied information must, however, have been created somewhere along the line.

2. Reproduced information:
In the arts, there is a clear distinction between the original composer, poet, or writer, and the subsequent performers of such works. An actor did not create the acts or the text, but he does contribute by employing his own talents of intonation, mimicry, and creativity. Similarly, when a Mozart symphony or a Bach cantata is performed, the musicians play a reproductive role — they do not alter the work of the composer, but they might introduce individual effects. We thus define reproduced information as a semantic entity which is elaborated and adapted by the actual sender without modifying in any real sense the originally created information. All animal languages can be included in this category, because all allocated meanings are fixed. The acts of performing animals are reproductive and not creative. Computer software functions according to this principle, since all creative ideas like algorithms (methods of solution) and data structures had to be devised beforehand by the programmer and then implemented in the form of a written program. The various relevant parameters can be entered into a machine (computer) which does nothing more than reproduce the available information in the required form. Even the results obtained by means of AI programs (artificial intelligence; see appendix A2.3) are in the last instance nothing more than reproduced information. They may be quite complex and may appear to be "intelligent," but they cannot create information. Machines can reproduce information, since reproduction does not entail creative thought processes.

3. Creative information:
This is the highest level of transmitted information: something new is produced. It does not involve copied or reproduced information. This kind of information always requires a personal mind exercising its own free will, as original source. This generally entails a nonmaterial intellectual process, which thus cannot be entrusted to a machine. Creative information can always be linked to a person who has cognitive capabilities, and it represents something new. We can now formulate the following special theorem: