The "Theory of Information" basically implied that nature must be interpreted as matter, energy and information. Information was seen as an agent that informs the material world much as the messages of the genes instruct the machinery of the cell to build an organism. Information was also seen as a universal principle at work in the world, giving shape to the shapeless. It is found in all organic and inorganic systems at all levels of existence. Entropy was seen as a measure of the disorder of a physical system.⁶...As suggested earlier, information is not synonymous with intelligence, though they are similar in concept.

According to Layzer, the universe is not running down. It is continually gaining in information. The thermodynamic arrow of time opposes this process and points toward increasing entropy, because large scale information decays into smaller scale information, which in turn is dissipated by the effects of random disturbance from the outside; but the cosmic expansion, moving away from the uniform disorder of the primal explosion toward a more highly ordered physical universe, continually results in the creation of new macroscopic information. There will always be more information in the universe than there used to be.⁷...Again, this concept applies to both organic and inorganic matter without distinction.

The distinction between living and non-living matter is difficult to discern. Viruses are particles which have attributes of both living cells and non-living molecules. They are completely dependent upon another living host for replication. Larger viruses (200 micrometers) contain protein, polysaccharide, and lipid in biologically reasonable proportions compared to bacteria, while the smaller ones (10 micrometers) appear to be pure nucleoprotein. The smallest viruses contain only a few hundred atoms. Viruses have no independent metabolism, like other unicellular organisms, and thus parasitize the metabolic mechanism of the host cell. They only act alive when inside a living cell. The bacterial viruses appear to consist of little more than genic material (DNA) which, on entry into the host cell, seizes and dominates its normal directive mechanisms so as to force the synthesis of new virus substance. Therefore, although viruses do reproduce, they cannot do so independently of another organism.⁸...They are truly intermediary between living and non-living structures.

Prions are a biological anomaly which contain protein and reproduce in living cells; however, they do not appear to contain any DNA or RNA. Prions are infectious agents which appear to be involved in Alzheimer's disease. They likewise represent intermediate forms between the usual life and non-lifeforms.⁹

Proteinoid microspheres have been produced in laboratory experiments where conditions of a primordial earth have been simulated. These microspheres represent dense clusters of amino acids coagulated together as organic material floating in mostly inorganic fluid. In many ways they resemble bacteria. They appear to possess a semipermeable membrane similar to a cell wall, through which smaller molecules such as calcium and potassium can pass, but not larger ones. Some discharge of waste occurs; however, there is a net intake of material during what is regarded to represent a primitive metabolism. When subjected to turbulence, analogous to early oceanic wave motion, the larger microspheres break into smaller ones, which has been interpreted by some to represent a primitive form of replication. Some of the divided microspheres grow again in size only to be ruptured by another act of replication. These are non-lifeforms which are behaving very much like simple, true lifeforms.¹⁰...In addition to the lifelike properties already described, it was found that stimulating the microspheres with light resulted in rhythmic patterns of electrical impulses indistinguishable from those found in natural, excitable brain cells.¹¹

Netscape CTRL + D MAC Command + D

page 10.2