Information in life and society

Abstract

Information is present in all natural, living, and technological systems, and is recognized as the third basic universal quantity after energy and matter. For this reason, information manifestations in both natural and man-made systems have attracted the interest of humans through the historical evolution of the humankind. On the life and biological side of information there are two axes of study, namely: (i) the study of the underlying natural/biological mechanisms of storing, processing, and transmission of information from cells to entire organisms, and (ii) the use of biological mechanisms of computation in the design and implementation of new types of man-made computational systems. On the technological side, information and communication technology (ICT) is increasingly entering to the “heart” of large-scale competitive policies, due to its capacity as a key player in the ongoing human growth, development, and modernization. This chapter is concerned with the role and application of information to life and society. Regarding the life side the issues of the substantive role and the transmission sense of information in biology, the natural information principles, and biocomputation, are discussed. On the society side, the application of IT to office automation, power generation and distribution, computer-integrated manufacturing, robotics, business and electronic commerce, education, medicine, and transportation, is investigated. This chapter ends with a look at the issues of social networking, and ethics of IT (infoethics).