What is information?

Area of Science:

• Molecular Biology
• Philosophy of Biology
• Biochemistry

Background:

• Two paradigms exist in biology: the chemical paradigm ('life is chemistry') and the information paradigm ('life is chemistry plus information').
• The ontological status of information in biology remains debated, with information sometimes viewed as a metaphor for chemical reactions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To resolve the ontological problem of information in molecular biology.
• To propose a new framework for understanding biological information.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis of molecular biology's foundational discoveries.
• Introduction of the concept of 'molecular artefacts' and 'nominable entities'.

Main Results:

• Life is proposed to be an artefact-making process, with genes and proteins as molecular artefacts.
• Artefact production necessitates sequences and coding rules beyond physics and chemistry.
• Information is identified as a fundamental, non-computable observable termed a 'nominable entity'.

Conclusions:

• Biological information has a distinct ontological status, not reducible to chemistry alone.
• The artefact-based view reconciles the chemical and information paradigms in biology.
• Information is a fundamental aspect of life, defined as a nominable entity.