Is Information the Fifth Force of Nature?

This video proposes a bold new “missing law of nature” that unifies all evolving systems—from atoms and minerals to life and technology—suggesting that information is as fundamental as mass or energy. The key idea is “functional information,” which measures how many rare configurations perform a function and increases over time as systems are shaped by three selection forces: static persistence, dynamic persistence, and novelty generation. Evidence from Earth’s minerals shows this growth, with only about 6,000 stable structures emerging from billions of possibilities, encoding roughly 142 bits of functional information. This framework could guide the search for other evolving systems in our solar system, especially on moons like Europa, Enceladus, and Titan. The speaker argues that the second law of thermodynamics alone cannot explain life’s origin—instead, systems “ratchet themselves up” by accumulating functional information through selection. Finally, he admits the theory is incomplete and may be wrong, but it will itself face selective pressure—and “this is just the beginning.”

• ▶ 0:04 Evolution did not begin with life; chemical and cosmic complexification preceded and enabled the first living cell.
• ▶ 0:36 All evolving systems—atoms, minerals, life, technology—may be unified by a single missing law of nature.
• ▶ 1:05 Information may be as fundamental as mass, energy, or charge, measured by functional information that increases over time.
• ▶ 3:18 Evolving systems share three common aspects: numerous diverse interacting components, mechanisms for generating many configurations, and selection pressure favoring a function.
• ▶ 4:15 The three fundamental selection forces are static persistence (stable arrangements), dynamic persistence (self-reinforcing open systems that maintain activity), and novelty generation (new capabilities that enable exploring new spaces).
• ▶ 5:23 Life's evolution is open-ended, unlike atoms/minerals, and involves a yin-yang relationship between increasing entropy and increasing information or patterning.
• ▶ 5:49 Kolmogorov complexity measures the bits needed to describe a system and stays constant under jumbling, so a new measure is needed for evolving systems.
• ▶ 6:20 Functional information—defined by the fraction of possible configurations that perform a function—increases over time, and rarer functional states carry more information.
• ▶ 7:41 Evidence: Earth's minerals show functional information growth; of ~10^46 possible combinations, only ~6,000 stable minerals exist, yielding about 142 bits of functional information today.
• ▶ 10:02 The framework can guide searches for other evolving systems in our solar system, especially on Europa, Enceladus, and Titan, where raw ingredients, free energy, and selection pressures may combine.
• ▶ 10:47 The second law of thermodynamics alone is not enough to explain life's origin; systems "ratchet themselves up" by increasing functional information through selection, which is consistent with but different from the second law.
• ▶ 12:02 The theory is admittedly incomplete and may be wrong, but it will itself be subject to selective pressure—and "this is just the beginning."

• ▶ 0:01 Evolution Before Life and the Missing Laws of Nature (0:01 - 3:09) - Introduces the proposed law of increasing functional information and contrasts the physical canon and second law with cosmic complexification.
• ▶ 3:09 Common Aspects, Selection Forces, and Open-Ended Evolution (3:09 - 5:49) - Describes the shared features of evolving systems, the three fundamental selection forces, and how life and minerals undergo open-ended evolution.
• ▶ 5:49 Functional Information: Definition and Evidence (5:49 - 10:02) - Defines functional information via Kolmogorov complexity and shows its increase in mineral evolution, simulations, and laboratory experiments.
• ▶ 10:02 Applications, Pushback, and Open Questions (10:02 - 12:26) - Applies the framework to the solar system, addresses pushback, and clarifies that the proposed law is not purpose-driven and remains incomplete.