In the Beginning was Information
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A19: Biological systems are indeed more complicated than all ourtechnical inventions. However, we do not require a special principlefor <strong>the</strong> conservation of energy, for example, for biological systems.The reason for this is that <strong>the</strong> principle of conservation ofenergy which applies in all physical systems is not only applicablein <strong>the</strong> limited area of inanimate matter but is universally valid andis thus also valid for all living systems. This is noted in <strong>the</strong> principlesN2 and N3 (see chapter 2.3). If <strong>the</strong> stated <strong>the</strong>orems aboutinformation are laws of nature <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong>y are valid for animate aswell as inanimate systems. A different definition and different principlesare <strong>the</strong>refore not necessary for biological systems.Q20: Are laws of nature always quantifiable? Don’t <strong>the</strong> statementsonly achieve this status when <strong>the</strong> observations have been successfullyexpressed in ma<strong>the</strong>matical equations?A20: <strong>In</strong> 1604 Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642) discovered <strong>the</strong> law offalling bodies. He expressed <strong>the</strong> regularities he discovered in <strong>the</strong>form of verbal sentences in Italian (in ‘La nuova scienza’) whichcan be translated into o<strong>the</strong>r languages. Later <strong>the</strong>se sentences weretranslated with <strong>the</strong> help of a meta-language, that is <strong>the</strong> ma<strong>the</strong>maticallanguage. The ma<strong>the</strong>matical language has <strong>the</strong> advantage that itallows an unambiguous and especially short presentation. Equationsare an expression of quantitative details; however <strong>the</strong>y onlyrepresent a part of <strong>the</strong> ma<strong>the</strong>matical equipment. The phraseologyof ma<strong>the</strong>matical 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 ma<strong>the</strong>maticalterms 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 <strong>the</strong>refore irrelevant who is observing nature,when and where and in what stage nature is. The circumstances areaffected by <strong>the</strong> laws and not vice versa.2. <strong>In</strong> order to be a law of nature <strong>the</strong> facts under observation neednot be formulated ma<strong>the</strong>matically although this does not exclude<strong>the</strong> 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