In the Beginning was Information

A19: Biological systems are indeed more complicated than all ourtechnical inventions. However, we do not require a special principlefor the conservation of energy, for example, for biological systems.The reason for this is that the principle of conservation ofenergy which applies in all physical systems is not only applicablein the limited area of inanimate matter but is universally valid andis thus also valid for all living systems. This is noted in the principlesN2 and N3 (see chapter 2.3). If the stated theorems aboutinformation are laws of nature then they are valid for animate aswell as inanimate systems. A different definition and different principlesare therefore not necessary for biological systems.Q20: Are laws of nature always quantifiable? Don’t the statementsonly achieve this status when the observations have been successfullyexpressed in mathematical equations?A20: In 1604 Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642) discovered the law offalling bodies. He expressed the regularities he discovered in theform of verbal sentences in Italian (in ‘La nuova scienza’) whichcan be translated into other languages. Later these sentences weretranslated with the help of a meta-language, that is the mathematicallanguage. The mathematical language has the advantage that itallows an unambiguous and especially short presentation. Equationsare an expression of quantitative details; however they onlyrepresent a part of the mathematical equipment. The phraseologyof mathematical logic uses a formula apparatus but does not dealwith quantitative dimensions. They represent a different and indispensableform of expression. With relation to question Q20 we haveto consider two aspects:1. Not all observations in nature which can be formulated in mathematicalterms are necessarily laws of nature. These must fulfil twoimportant criteria: laws of nature must be universally valid andabsolute. They must not be dependent on anything, especially noton place or time. It is therefore irrelevant who is observing nature,when and where and in what stage nature is. The circumstances areaffected by the laws and not vice versa.2. In order to be a law of nature the facts under observation neednot be formulated mathematically although this does not excludethe possibility that a formal expression may one day be found (seeexamples a, b). It must also be noted that a number of correctlyobserved laws of nature could later be included in a more general128