In the Beginning Was Information Read Online Free PDF Page A

with the result that the orbits of the earth and the moon will become entangled and the stars will seem to move erratically: "The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind" (Isa. 24:20).
    The moment that historical questions (e.g., about the origin of the world and of life) or future events (like the end of the earth) are considered, then N10a is entirely useless.
    2.4 The Relevance of the Laws of Nature
     
    R1: The laws of nature provide us with a better understanding of natural phenomena and events. Without the laws of nature we would have had a very limited knowledge of the physical, chemical, astronomical, and biological processes occurring in the world around us. The progress of science mostly relies on the fact that fundamental principles are identified and classified, even when different effects are studied.
    R2: The laws of nature enable us to make predictions. Because of N5 and N9, the expected course of observed processes can be predicted. Exactly because of this certainty, it is in many cases possible to compute beforehand what will happen. If, for example, a stone is dropped, one can calculate what its speed will be after two seconds.
    R3: The laws of nature make technological development possible. All engineering constructions and all technical manufacturing processes are based on the laws of nature. The reason why the construction of a bridge, a car, or an aircraft can be planned in advance, is that the relevant laws of nature are known. Without knowledge of the laws of nature, there could have been neither chemical nor pharmaceutical industries.
    R4: By means of the laws of nature, it is possible to determine beforehand whether an envisaged process would be realizable or not. This is a very important application of the laws of nature. Some time ago I received a comprehensive piece of work consisting of many diagrams, calculations, and explanations, from an inventor with the request that the proposed construction should be checked. This person envisioned an extremely complex system of pumps and pipes which would be able to drive a hydraulic motor. It was, however, immediately clear, without my having to do any calculations or tests, that such an arrangement could never work, because it violated the energy law. In many cases, the laws of nature enable one to make conclusions beforehand without having to study the details.
    R5: The laws of nature are applicable to cases formerly unknown. The fact that the laws of nature can be transferred to new cases is of special importance. Up to the present time, nobody has been able to imitate the process of photosynthesis which takes place in every blade of grass. If and when such an endeavor may eventually be planned, then all proposed methods which violate any one of the laws could be rejected in advance. Any such design could be eliminated as useless in the conceptual phase. In addition, past results which were accepted in the light of some paradigm, could also be evaluated. Is it, for example, possible that information could have originated in a postulated primeval soup? This question is discussed further in chapter 6.
    R6: One can employ a known natural law to discover another one. It has happened time and again in the history of science that a new law has been discovered using the validity of a known law. If the law of gravity had not been known, then the behavior of the moons of Jupiter could not have been investigated properly. Observations of their motions made it possible to compute the speed of light, which is an important physical constant.
    The orbits of the planets cannot be exactly elliptical (as would be required if the gravitational pull of the sun was the only force acting on them), as required by Newton’s law, since they are not only under the gravitational influence of the sun, but they also affect one another gravitationally to a lesser extent. John Couch Adams (1819–1892), a British astronomer and mathematician, computed the