Why Information Grows: The Evolution of Order, from Atoms to Economies

by Cesar A. Hidalgo

Information is incorporeal, but it is always physically embodied. Information is not a thing; rather, it is the arrangement of physical things. It is physical order, like what distinguishes different shuffles of a deck of cards.

We infuse messages with meaning automatically, fooling ourselves to believe that the meaning of a message is carried in the message. But it is not. This is only an illusion. Meaning is derived from context and prior knowledge.

This world is different from the one in which our species evolved only in the way in which matter is arranged.