In The Beginning Was Information
In his book, "In the Beginning Was Information," Werner Gitt painstakingly shows that any model for the origin of life (and of information) based soley on physical or chemical processes is inherently false. Louis Pasteur stated a truism that has never been disproven. "Life can only come from life."
I’ve been slow about putting up a review of this book because I have read it in chapter snatches over a period of months. It is complicated. I can’t say I understand much of the theory, but I do understand and agree wholeheartedly with the thesis that there is no natural law or process or phenomenon through which matter can give rise to information. And without encoded information, there can be no life.
Gitt begins his book by asking how certain spiders are so specific in the web they weave, how a certain S. American butterfly’s wing can be such an amazing structure, and how human embryos can so purposefully develop. The answer is, information is encoded in the cells. An organ playing robot, although quite astonishing, can only plan what it is programmed to play. Information is crucial.
Gitt next discusses the differences between laws of nature, models, theories, hypotheses, paradigms, speculation, and fiction. He points out that inherent resistance to change results in many hypotheses and paradigms being accepted as laws long after they have been disproved. A law of nature, by contrast, is a statement verified repeatedly and in a reproducible so that it is viewed as valid. Laws of nature are based on experience, are universally valid, equally valid for living and inanimate things, are not restricted to any one field of study, are immutable. Laws of nature explain events without God since they became operational when creation was completed. For example, gravity, the law of conservation of energy, etc.
Many scientists justly regard information as the third fundamental entity alongside matter and energy. Gitt then tackles the key question of whether or not information can arise purely from matter. He lists a series of theorems, the first of which is that information is non-material, it cannot be explained in terms of material processes. The second theorem states that information arises through an intentional, volitional act. This adds a 4th entity to matter, energy and information, that of WILL or VOLITION.
He asserts, and then goes on to prove, that information comprises the nonmaterial foundation for all technological systems and for all works of art.
Next Gitt, shows that information, as transmitted from a sender to a recipient, exists on 5 levels: the level of statistics (numbers, letters, words), the level of syntax (how letters, etc. are combined--a multitude of codes [binary code, Greek alphabet, etc], the level of semantics (meaning), the level of pragmatics [eg. actions], and the level of apobetics [the premeditated purpose of the sender]. For example, a male bird calls a mater by means of his song or to establish his territory or a computer program is written for the purpose of solving equations or manipulating a system.
Gitt lists a whole series of theorems to elucidate information. For example, Theorem 23 states that there is no known natural law through which matter can give rise to information, nor is there any physical or material phenomenon that can do this. As formulated by Louis Pasteur, “Life can only come from life,” is has never been contradicted. Information is not life, but information is a necessary prerequisite for life.
Gitt continues for a hundred pages to systematically develop these laws about information and the necessity of codes to pass it on. Let me list a few salient points:
• there can be no information without a code
• Any code is the result of a free and deliberate convention
• there can be no information without a sender....a mental source...volition (will)
• information cannot originate in statistical processes
• Any model for the origin of life (and of information) based soley on physical or chemical processes is inherently false. (p. 98)
In the evolutionary view, due to philosophical bias, both information and life itself is regarded as a purely material phenomena. But the code systems used for communication in the animal kingdom have not been ‘invented’ by them but were created fully functioning.
Gitt uses abundant examples, charts, diagrams, quotations to underline what he is saying. In the end the point is, without God as creator there could be no life. He is the source of all the information contained in code form in all living things.
In almost 80 pages of appendices, Gitt discusses, the statistical view of information, the complexity and variety of languages, energy as a fundamental quantity, and more. 5 of 5 for content; 4 of 5 for readability.
I’ve been slow about putting up a review of this book because I have read it in chapter snatches over a period of months. It is complicated. I can’t say I understand much of the theory, but I do understand and agree wholeheartedly with the thesis that there is no natural law or process or phenomenon through which matter can give rise to information. And without encoded information, there can be no life.
Gitt begins his book by asking how certain spiders are so specific in the web they weave, how a certain S. American butterfly’s wing can be such an amazing structure, and how human embryos can so purposefully develop. The answer is, information is encoded in the cells. An organ playing robot, although quite astonishing, can only plan what it is programmed to play. Information is crucial.
Gitt next discusses the differences between laws of nature, models, theories, hypotheses, paradigms, speculation, and fiction. He points out that inherent resistance to change results in many hypotheses and paradigms being accepted as laws long after they have been disproved. A law of nature, by contrast, is a statement verified repeatedly and in a reproducible so that it is viewed as valid. Laws of nature are based on experience, are universally valid, equally valid for living and inanimate things, are not restricted to any one field of study, are immutable. Laws of nature explain events without God since they became operational when creation was completed. For example, gravity, the law of conservation of energy, etc.
Many scientists justly regard information as the third fundamental entity alongside matter and energy. Gitt then tackles the key question of whether or not information can arise purely from matter. He lists a series of theorems, the first of which is that information is non-material, it cannot be explained in terms of material processes. The second theorem states that information arises through an intentional, volitional act. This adds a 4th entity to matter, energy and information, that of WILL or VOLITION.
He asserts, and then goes on to prove, that information comprises the nonmaterial foundation for all technological systems and for all works of art.
Next Gitt, shows that information, as transmitted from a sender to a recipient, exists on 5 levels: the level of statistics (numbers, letters, words), the level of syntax (how letters, etc. are combined--a multitude of codes [binary code, Greek alphabet, etc], the level of semantics (meaning), the level of pragmatics [eg. actions], and the level of apobetics [the premeditated purpose of the sender]. For example, a male bird calls a mater by means of his song or to establish his territory or a computer program is written for the purpose of solving equations or manipulating a system.
Gitt lists a whole series of theorems to elucidate information. For example, Theorem 23 states that there is no known natural law through which matter can give rise to information, nor is there any physical or material phenomenon that can do this. As formulated by Louis Pasteur, “Life can only come from life,” is has never been contradicted. Information is not life, but information is a necessary prerequisite for life.
Gitt continues for a hundred pages to systematically develop these laws about information and the necessity of codes to pass it on. Let me list a few salient points:
• there can be no information without a code
• Any code is the result of a free and deliberate convention
• there can be no information without a sender....a mental source...volition (will)
• information cannot originate in statistical processes
• Any model for the origin of life (and of information) based soley on physical or chemical processes is inherently false. (p. 98)
In the evolutionary view, due to philosophical bias, both information and life itself is regarded as a purely material phenomena. But the code systems used for communication in the animal kingdom have not been ‘invented’ by them but were created fully functioning.
Gitt uses abundant examples, charts, diagrams, quotations to underline what he is saying. In the end the point is, without God as creator there could be no life. He is the source of all the information contained in code form in all living things.
In almost 80 pages of appendices, Gitt discusses, the statistical view of information, the complexity and variety of languages, energy as a fundamental quantity, and more. 5 of 5 for content; 4 of 5 for readability.
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