In the Beginning was Information

Theorem 28: There is no known law of nature, no known processand no known sequence of events which can cause informationto originate by itself in matter.This was also the conclusion of the seventh “International Conferenceon the origins of life” held together with the fourth congressof the “International Society for the Study of the Origin of life(ISSOL)” in Mainz. At such occasions scientists from all over theworld exchange their latest results. In his review of the congress,Klaus Dose [D3] writes: “A further puzzle remains, namely thequestion of the origin of biological information, i. e. the informationresiding in our genes today.” Not even the physical buildingblocks required for the storage of the information can constructthemselves: “The spontaneous formation of simple nucleotides oreven of poly-nucleotides which were able to be replicated on thepre-biotic earth, should now be regarded as improbable in the lightof the very many unsuccessful experiments in this regard.”As early as 1864, when Louis Pasteur addressed the SorbonneUniversity in Paris, he predicted that the theory of the spontaneousgeneration of living cells, would never recover from the fatal blowdelivered by his experiments. In this regard Klaus Dose makes anequally important statement: “The Mainz report may have anequally important historical impact, because for the first time it hasnow been determined unequivocally by a large number of scientiststhat all evolutionary theses that living systems developed frompoly-nucleotides which originated spontaneously, are devoid ofany empirical base.”107