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In the Beginning was Information

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PrefaceTheme of <strong>the</strong> book: The topic of this book is <strong>the</strong> concept of <strong>In</strong>formation,which is a fundamental entity on equal footing with matterand energy. Many questions have to be considered: What is information?How does information arise? What is <strong>the</strong> function ofinformation? How is it encoded? How is it transmitted? What is<strong>the</strong> source of <strong>the</strong> information found in living organisms?<strong>In</strong>formation confronts us on all sides; newspapers, radio and televisionbring new information daily, and information processing systemsare found practically everywhere, for example in computers,numerical control equipment, automatic assembly lines, and evencar<strong>was</strong>h machines. It should be noted that <strong>the</strong> activities of all livingorganisms are controlled by programs comprising information.Because information is required for all life processes, it can be statedunequivocally that information is an essential characteristic ofall life. All efforts to explain life processes in terms of physics andchemistry only, will always be unsuccessful. This is <strong>the</strong> fundamentalproblem confronting present-day biology, which is based onevolution.Structure and purpose of this book: This book consists of threemain parts and an appendix. <strong>In</strong> <strong>the</strong> first part <strong>the</strong> nature of naturallaws is discussed. This introduction is indispensable for <strong>the</strong> subsequentformulation and evaluation of information <strong>the</strong>orems.The concept of information is clarified by means of many examplesin <strong>the</strong> second and central part of <strong>the</strong> book. The basic principles areestablished by means of general <strong>the</strong>orems which are valid irrespectiveof <strong>the</strong> actual discipline. The purpose is to find laws of naturewhich hold for <strong>the</strong> fundamental entity known as information. With<strong>the</strong> aid of such <strong>the</strong>orems, it becomes possible to formulate conclusionsfor unknown situations just as can be done in <strong>the</strong> case of lawsof nature. <strong>In</strong> contrast to <strong>the</strong>orems about many o<strong>the</strong>r characteristicnatural quantities (e. g. entropy), <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>orems about informationcan be clearly illustrated and <strong>the</strong>ir validity is easy to demonstrate.9

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