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9 - Information and communication in living matter

from Part III - Biology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 December 2010

By
Bernd-Olaf Küppers
Edited by
Paul Davies  and
Niels Henrik Gregersen
Paul Davies
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
Niels Henrik Gregersen
Affiliation:
University of Copenhagen
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Summary

Ever since the elucidation of the molecular basis of living systems, we have known that all elementary processes of life are governed by information. Thus, information turns out to be a key concept in understanding living matter (Küppers, 1990). More than that: the flow of information at all levels of the living system reveals the properties of communication. This means that the information stored in the genome of the organism is expressed in innumerable feedback loops – a process through which the genetic information is continually re-evaluated by permanent interactions with the physical environment to which it is exposed. In this way, the living organism is built up, step by step, into a hierarchically organized network of unmatched complexity.

The fact that all phenomena of life are based upon information and communication is indeed the principal characteristic of living matter. Without the perpetual exchange of information at all levels of organization, no functional order in the living organism could be sustained. The processes of life would implode into a jumble of chaos if they were not perpetually stabilized by information and communication. In this chapter, I should like to consider some of the consequences that follow from this for our philosophical understanding of reality.

ABOUT “INFORMATION” AND “COMMUNICATION”

In daily usage, the terms “information” and “communication” are not always clearly distinguished from each other. Yet, even the etymology of the two words indicates that the reference of the concepts cannot entirely overlap.

Type
Chapter
Information
Information and the Nature of Reality
From Physics to Metaphysics
 , pp. 170 - 184
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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References

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