The Biological Connection

All living systems apply information processing whether at the cellular, genetic or neural level to realise their potential through the evolutionary process.
Proof of this principle at the fundamental bacterium level has recently been published in Science magazine and supports the author’s theory from a biological framework perspective (1). This is the first evidential basis offered.

According to this research, bacteria have the ability to keep track of the level of information uncertainty and entropy in their environment with the option of reacting to minimise it through genetic operators such as mutations, in synchronicity with the rate of change of the level of uncertainty.

Higher level organisms have long since adopted similar sophisticated adaptive methods, including DNA/ RNA transcription editing, RNA interference and use of epigenetic factors such as methyl groups to react quickly to changes in the environment. But even simple organisms such as bacteria and viruses are surprisingly responsive and capable of monitoring and reacting to their environment. Random mutation together with genetic recombination is now disputed as the only evolutionary method available. This simple basis would have taken far too long to achieve the improvements in flexibility needed to ensure ongoing survival. It is now understood that there are more direct feedback loops available to life at all levels, providing information on external change and maximising opportunities to fast forward to better solutions within environmentally manageable time frames.

At Princeton university in 2007, physicist William Bialek’s team has provided further evidence of the critical link between life’s evolution and its capacity to access and interpret the information in its external environment, using the single cell bacterium Ecoli as a test model (10 ) ,
Each bacterium uses lac proteins to break down its food, the sugar lactose. Knowing how much lac protein it should produce to maximise its use of the available sugar in its environment provides it with a competitive edge over rival cells.
This relationship between the capacity of Ecoli to produce the optimum quantity of lac protein and the amount of information available to its gene regulatory network has now been mathematically determined viz-
One bit of information available to the bacterium relating to the level of lac protein production required, which in turn governs the cell’s capacity to turn one lac protein on or off, which confers a 5 percent ‘fitness advantage’ over bacteria storing no bits.

This suggests that there is an information minimum threshold for life’s survival according to Bialek and that natural selection favours organisms that capture more
information about their environment.
It also provides direct evidence supporting the thesis of this book that the process of evolution is governed by the level of access of the system to relevant information in its environment.

Life has already learned that cooperation can greatly leverage the information generation and sifting process. Multi-cellular life, ant colonies and societies of all species apply this principle, leading inevitably, as a number of eminent philosophers and physicists such as Frank Tipler have postulated, to the emergence of a super cooperative entity with the attributes of a global consciousness- defined in this book as ‘Omega’. Omega is marked by instant communication between its intelligent sub-units or information processor life forms, acting in concert, continuously exchanging and amplifying knowledge. Such an Omega entity will therefore continue to evolve towards the structure of an infinitely complex, multidimensional and networked system. This is not a purely philosophical concept, but an inevitable consequence of the new unified evolutionary theory.

Modern humans as well as all other species to varying degrees have acquired the capacity to react and modify behaviour and search for requisite sources of information and knowledge to assist in adapting to a fast changing social as well as physical environment. Humans are particularly adept at adapting to cultural change, with the rapid uptake of new cyber-age and globalisation lifestyle by the current generation the most pervasive example. The evolutionary process therefore not only guarantees efficient information processing but continually selects on a reward basis the techniques and protocols that result in more efficient information processing outcomes. This extends the potential of life in the universe and the universe itself, as life becomes coexistent with it.

Cooperation also amplifies knowledge by allowing better sharing and generation of diverse knowledge sources by life, resulting in greater complexity, with the capability of withstanding harsher shocks from its external environment. As in any cellular process, information is exchanged between its component populations via networked channels. It should also noted that the brain has evolved information acquisition mechanisms that reward life for learning about its environment, based on the release of opoid neurotransmitters when new ideas are absorbed. This confers an evolutionary advantage and ensures that information processing continues unabated for all life.

Life has already learned that cooperation can greatly leverage the information generation and sifting process. Multi-cellular life, ant colonies and societies of all species apply this principle, leading inevitably, as a number of eminent philosophers and physicists such as Frank Tipler have postulated, to the emergence of a super cooperative entity with the attributes of a global consciousness- defined in this book as ‘Omega’. Omega is marked by instant communication between its intelligent sub-units or information processor life forms, acting in concert, continuously exchanging and amplifying knowledge. Such an Omega entity will therefore continue to evolve towards the structure of an infinitely complex, multidimensional and networked system. This is not a purely philosophical concept, but an inevitable consequence of the new unified evolutionary theory.