In the Beginning was Information

There is a German saying which goes like this: “When the cockcrows on the dungheap, the weather will change, or it will remainas it is.” This statement cannot be falsified, therefore it is worthless.In contrast, the energy conservation law is very susceptibleto falsification: “Energy cannot be created, neither can it bedestroyed.” The formulation is strikingly simple and it seems to bevery easy to refute. If it was not valid, one could devise an experimentwhere the before and after energy equilibria did not balance.Nevertheless, it has not yet been possible to come up with one singlecounter example. In this way a theorem which is based onobservation, is accepted as a law of nature.N8: The laws of nature can be expressed in various ways. Differentways of expression can be employed for any given naturallaw, depending on the mode of application. If the question iswhether an expected result could be obtained or not, it would beadvantageous to describe it in the form of an impossibility theorem,and when calculations are involved, a mathematical formulationis preferable. The energy law could be formulated in one offour different ways, depending on the circumstances:a) Energy cannot be created from nothing; neither can it bedestroyed.b) It is impossible to construct a machine which can work perpetuallyonce it has been set in motion, without a continuous supplyof energy (b follows directly from a).c) E = constant (The energy of a system is constant)d) dE/dt = 0(The balance of the total of all energies E of a system does notchange, meaning that the derivative of energy versus time iszero.)N9: The laws of nature describe reproducible results. When anatural law has been identified as such, its validity could be establishedanew in each and every case where it is applicable. Reproducibilityis an essential characteristic of the laws of nature. Onecould drop a stone as often as you like from various heights andthe law of gravity would always be obeyed. It is thus possible tomake predictions about the behaviour and interrelationships ofthings by means of the laws of nature. The laws of nature are eventuallyestablished through continual verification.32