On Information and Complexity

Abstract

We introduce the rather wide-ranging considerations which follow with a discussion of the concept of information and its role in scientific discourse. Ever since Shannon began to talk of information theory (by which he meant a probabilistic analysis of the deleterious effects of propagating signals through channels; cf. Shannon and Weaver, 1949), the concept has been relentlessly analyzed and reanalyzed. The time and effort expended on these analyses must surely rank as one of the most unprofitable investments in modern scientific history; not only has there been no profit, but also the currency itself has been debased to worth- lessness. Yet, in biology, for example, the terminology of information intrudes itself insistently at every level; code, signal, computation, recognition. It may be that these informational terms are simply not scientific at all; that they are a temporary anthropomorphic expedient; a facon de parler which merely reflects the immaturity of biology as a science, to be replaced at the earliest opportunity by the more rigorous terminology of force, energy, and potential which are the province of more mature sciences (i.e. physics), in which information is never mentioned. Or, it may be that the informational terminology which seems to force itself upon us bespeaks something fundamental; something that is missing from physics as we now understand it. We take this latter viewpoint, and see where it leads us.