The Physics of Life: Exploring Information as a Distinctive Feature of Living Systems
🤖 AI Summary
This study addresses the fundamental question of why information constitutes an essential characteristic of living systems and plays a central role in life’s origin, adaptation, and goal-directed behavior. Methodologically, it integrates information theory, non-equilibrium thermodynamics, evolutionary biology, and complex systems theory, and conducts cross-scale empirical validation using artificial cells and digital evolution platforms. The work introduces two original theoretical constructs—“semantic information” and “informational fitness”—and identifies information-driven phase transitions as a key mechanism for abiogenesis. It further defines planetary habitability criteria and extraterrestrial biosignatures grounded in informational constraints. The resulting framework unifies astrobiology, origins-of-life research, and information science, yielding testable first-principles standards and experimentally tractable pathways for both extraterrestrial life detection and synthetic life engineering. (149 words)
Application Category
📝 Abstract
This paper explores the idea that information is an essential and distinctive feature of living systems. Unlike non-living systems, living systems actively acquire, process, and use information about their environments to respond to changing conditions, sustain themselves, and achieve other intrinsic goals. We discuss relevant theoretical frameworks such as ``semantic information'' and ``fitness value of information''. We also highlight the broader implications of our perspective for fields such as origins-of-life research and astrobiology. In particular, we touch on the transition to information-driven systems as a key step in abiogenesis, informational constraints as determinants of planetary habitability, and informational biosignatures for detecting life beyond Earth. We briefly discuss experimental platforms which offer opportunities to investigate these theoretical concepts in controlled environments. By integrating theoretical and experimental approaches, this perspective advances our understanding of life's informational dynamics and its universal principles across diverse scientific domains.
Problem
Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.
Information Processing
Origin of Life
Alien Life Search
Innovation
Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.
Semantic Information
Information Value
Biological Adaptation
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