In the Beginning Was Information (2 page)

The concept of information is clarified by means of many examples in the second and central part of the book. The basic principles are established by means of general theorems which are valid irrespective of the actual discipline. The purpose is to find laws of nature which hold for the fundamental entity known as information. With the aid of such theorems, it becomes possible to formulate conclusions for unknown situations, just as can be done in the case of laws of nature. In contrast to theorems about many other characteristic natural quantities (e.g., entropy), the theorems about information can be clearly illustrated and their validity is easy to demonstrate.

The purpose of this book is to formulate the concept of information as widely and as deeply as necessary. The reader will eventually be able to answer general questions about the origin of life as far as it is scientifically possible. If we can successfully formulate natural laws for information, then we will have found a new key for evaluating evolutionary ideas. In addition, it will become possible to develop an alternative model which refutes the doctrine of evolution.

The topics and theorems developed in the first two parts of the book are applied to the Bible in the third part. This provides a fresh way of unlocking the message of the Bible.

Readership:
The first target group of this book is those who have a scientific inclination; especially information and communication scientists and linguists. The concept of information is highly relevant for these scientists as well as for theologians, and the given examples cover a wide range of disciplines. For the sake of ease of understanding, chapters which contain many formulas are placed in the appendix, and complex relationships are illustrated graphically.

Appendix:
Questions which are closely linked to the concept of information (e.g., Shannon’s theory and artificial intelligence), but would distract the reader’s attention, are discussed in the fairly comprehensive appendix. The concept of energy receives ample attention, because energy plays a similarly important role in technology and in living organisms, as does information.

The title of the book:
The title refers to the first verse of the Gospel written by John: "In the beginning was the Word…." This book continually emphasizes the fact that information is required for the start of any controlled process, but the information itself is preceded by the prime source of all information. This is exactly what John has written, since "the Word" refers to the person who is the Prime Cause.

General remarks:
References to literary sources are indicated by the first letter of the author followed by a serial number, enclosed in square brackets. If there is a "p" and a second number in the reference, this indicates page number(s).

Acknowledgments and thanks:
After I had discussed the manuscript with my wife, it was also edited by Dr. Martin Ester (München), Dipl.- Inform.; Daniel Keim (München); Dr. Volker Kessler (Vierkirchen), Dipl.- Inform.; Thomas Seidl; and Andreas Wolff. I am sincerely grateful for all their suggestions and amplifications.

Preface to the English Edition

As author, I am delighted that my book is now available in English. Prof. Dr. Jaap Kies (South Africa) was responsible for the arduous task of translating the book into his mother tongue. Dr. Carl Wieland, together with Russell Grigg (Australia), proofread the translation thoroughly. I would like to thank all of those involved for their work in bringing this book into being. May it be a help to those who are seeking and asking questions, as well as to those who already believe.

Chapter 1

Preliminary Remarks about the Concept of Information

By way of introduction, we shall consider a few systems and repeatedly ask the question: What is the reason that such a system can function?

1.
The web of a spider:
In Figure 1 we see a section of a web of a spider, a Cyrtophora in this case. The mesh size is approximately 0.8 x 1.2 mm. The circle in the upper picture indicates the part which has been highly magnified by an electron microscope to provide the lower picture. The design and structure of this web is brilliant, and the spider uses the available material extremely economically. The required rigidity and strength are obtained with a minimal amount of material. The spiral threads do not merely cross the radial ones, and the two sets are not attached at the points of intersection only. Rather, they run parallel over a small distance, where they are tied or "soldered" together with very fine threads.

Every spider is a versatile genius: It plans its web like an architect, and then carries out this plan like the proficient weaver it is. It is also a chemist who can synthesize silk employing a computer controlled manufacturing process, and then use the silk for spinning. The spider is so proficient that it seems to have completed courses in structural engineering, chemistry, architecture, and information science, but we know that this was not the case. So who instructed it? Where did it obtain the specialized knowledge? Who was its adviser? Most spiders are also active in recycling. They eat their web in the morning, then the material is chemically processed and re-used for a new web.

The answer to the question of why everything works in this way is unequivocally that
information
plays an essential role.

2. The spinnerets of Uroctea:
The spinning nipples of
Uroctea
spiders are shown in Figure 2 under high magnification. The female has 1,500 spinnerets, only a few of which appear in Figure 2, where threads can be seen emerging from two of them. Silk having the required tensile strength is produced in the "factories" located directly below the spinnerets. All these complex processes are computer controlled, and all the required equipment is highly miniaturized. How is it possible that such a complex and minutely detailed manufacturing process can be carried out without mishap? Because the system contains a controlling program which has all the required processing information (see chapter 7).

Figure 2: The spinnerets of Uroctea .

3.
The Morpho rhetenor butterfly:
The South American butterfly,
Morpho rhetenor,
is depicted in Figure 3 under various magnifications so that the detailed structure of its wing scales can be seen (
Scientific American
, vol. 245, Nov. 1981, p. 106). The wings exhibit marvelous colorful patterns; metallic blue above (top left) and brown underneath (top right). The wings were analyzed for pigmentation, but none was found. How can this colorful beauty then be explained?

Figure 3: The South American butterfly Morpho rhetenor with wing surface sections under different magnifications.

The detailed structure of the wings becomes apparent in three magnification steps, namely 50 x, 350 x, and 20,000 x. At the lower magnifications, the structure resembles roof tiles, but when the magnification is 20,000, the secret is revealed. The structure is quite extraordinary: a regular grid of precisely constructed wedge-shaped ridges spaced at intervals of about 0.00022 mm. This pattern is repeated so accurately that the maximum deviation is only 0.00002 mm. No earthly workshop specializing in miniaturization would be able to make one single wing scale with this required precision. What is the purpose of this marvelous structure?

A certain physical effect is utilized here in a marvelous way. It can be explained in terms of a simple example: When one drops two stones in a pool, concentric waves spread out from each point of impact. At some points these waves cancel out, and at other points they enhance one another. This effect is known as interference, and it is exactly this effect which causes the observed colors. When light rays from the sun impinge on the stepped grid, some colors are canceled out and other colors are enhanced. The grid spacing and the wavelengths of the incident light are precisely tuned in to one another.

How did this marvelous structure arise where everything is geared to a special physical effect? Once again the answer is information!

4. The development of human embryos: The wonders which occur during the nine-month gestation period are unsurpassable. During the first four weeks of the new life, billions of cells are formed, and they arrange themselves according to a fascinating plan to shape the new human being. Around the 15th day, a dramatic new development occurs: the first blood vessels appear. A few days later another wonderful event takes place: Within the tiny breast of the 1.7 mm long embryo two blood vessels join to form the heart, which begins to pump blood through the miniscule body before the end of the third week. The tiny new heart provides the developing brain with blood and oxygen. In the fourth month, the heart of the fetus
^[1]
already pumps almost 8 gallons (30 liters) of blood per day, and at birth this volume will be 92 gallons (350 liters).

In the embryonic stage, lungs, eyes, and ears develop, although they are not used yet. After two months, the embryo is only three to four centimeters long. It is so small that it could literally fit inside a walnut shell, but even at this stage all organs are already present. During the following months the organs increase in size and assume their eventual shape. Various stages of human embryonic and fetal development are shown in Figure 4 [B3]:

Part A: A four-week-old embryo which is 4.2 mm long: 1 - boundary between back and abdomen, 2 - incipient shoulder groove, 3 - liver bulge, 4 - heart bulge, 5 - eye, 6 - thin and thick part of the navel funnel, 7 - Anulis umbilicalis, 8 - Anulis umbilicalis impar, 9 - coccyx.