160

example in HIV infection; see Sect. 1.1). Above all, it is clear that life is information,

which is the only reason why bioinformatics works at all! The success of bioinformatics

and computer-assisted modelling of life processes is not due to the recent abundance of

data and the discovery of the computer, but exactly the opposite. Because we are informa­

tion in our innermost being, we have been able to discover all this and then produce so

much data recently with self-built machines.

12.1

Molecular Words Only Ever Make Sense in the Context

of the Cell

But in the following we want to come a little closer to the nature of stored information in

living beings. Of course, there is a quick answer that could be interpreted esoterically in

any direction. It is living information, as distinguished, for instance, from the dead, “cold”

information in a computer. However, since Friedrich Wöhler (who in 1828 became world

famous for his synthesis of urea from ammonium cyanate) showed that organic molecules

could be easily synthesized in a retort, one has been skeptical about simply ascribing dif­

ferent properties to building blocks in living things than outside (such as by a mysterious

“vis vitalis”, a force of life; McKie 1944).

1990

12.1

12.2

12.1

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12.2

­

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12.3

12  Life Continuously Acquires New Information in Dialogue with the Environment