Defining life as data processing

Most efforts to define life have focused on its "hardware," the chemical and biological systems that make up the substance of life. Now, an Arizona State University researcher says we should also focus on the "software" of life, the information processing that is necessary for life to survive and thrive in its environment.

Sara Walker, an assistant professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration and in ASU’s Beyond Center, was recently highlighted in a Forbes.com column by Bruce Dorminey. Walker believes information flow and processing plays a role in defining life, and played a pivotal role in the rise of life on Earth.

“But I take a very computational definition of life,” said Walker in the column. “I really see living systems as being defined by their ability to process information about their environment.”

In a recent paper just published in the journal Information, Walker details her latest research on how information theory relates to life’s origins. One of Walker and colleagues’ central research tenets is that mere complexity isn’t enough to ensure the onset of life.

“To many researchers, the complexity of the chemistry is what really defines life,” said Walker. “But we think that hierarchical organization and the way that information flows between those scales is the defining feature of biological complexity.”