In the Beginning was Information

11 Questions Often Asked Aboutthe Information ConceptMy talks at universities and technical institutes are usually followedby lively discussions. A small selection of the frequentlyasked questions are now listed and answered briefly:Q1: Have you now proved the existence of God?A1: Conclusions must always be based on scientific results andthese may give rise to further ideas. It is, however, scientificallyimpossible to prove the existence of God, but very many aspects ofthis world cannot be understood at all if God is excluded.Q2: Do your assertions refute evolution?A2: The information theorems are natural laws and many fallacieshave been revealed by means of natural laws. The basic flaw of allevolutionary views is the origin of the information in living beings.It has never been shown that a coding system and semantic informationcould originate by itself in a material medium, and theinformation theorems predict that this will never be possible. Apurely material origin of life is thus precluded.Q3: Does the definition of information not depend on the individual?In contrast to matter and energy, information does not exist assuch of itself.A3: Yes, of course. Consider three persons, Albert, Ben, andCharles who want to inform Dan which one of them was in theroom. They decided that colours would be used to distinguishbetween them: Albert = yellow, Ben = blue, and Charles = red.When Dan arrives later, he finds a blue note, and concludes thatBen is there. Any other person would not regard this piece of paperas information. This code agreement exists only between Albert,Ben, Charles, and Dan (see theorems 6, 7, and 9). It is obvious thatinformation can only be created by a cognitive mental process.Q4: Please give a brief definition of information.A4: That is not possible, because information is by nature a verycomplex entity. The five-level model indicates that a simple formulationfor information will probably never be found.124