In the Beginning was Information

chemical quantities can be steered, controlled, utilised, or optimisedby means of intentional information. The strategy forachieving such control is always based on information, whether itis a cybernetic manufacturing technique, instructions for buildingan economical car, or the utilisation of electricity for driving amachine. In the first place there must be the intention to solve aproblem, followed by a conceptual construct for which the informationmay be coded in the form of a program, a technical drawing,or a description, etc. The next step is then to implement theconcept. All technological systems as well as all constructedobjects, from pins to works of art, have been produced by means ofinformation. None of these artefacts came into existence throughsome form of self-organisation of matter, but all of them were precededby establishing the required information. We can now concludethat information was present in the beginning, as the title ofthis book states.Theorem 3: Information comprises the nonmaterial foundationfor all technological systems and for all works of art.What is the position in regard to biological systems? Does Theorem3 also hold for such systems, or is there some restriction? Ifwe could successfully formulate the theorems in such a way thatthey are valid as laws of nature, then they would be universallyvalid according to the essential characteristics of the laws ofnature, N2, N3, and N4.49