DNA and the empirical evidence of a created code
UDI the universal definition of ‘information’ – all four of the following elements must be present to qualify as ‘information’
CODE
encoded ‘language’ (a code contains a set of symbols and rules for representing something else—letters, words, phrases, symbols to enable communication.)
MEANING
symbols representing a message (when the ‘language’ of letters, words, symbols is associated with real objects and concepts, it gives definitions to the letters/symbols/words, meaning.)
ACTION
expected action (conveys an implicit or explicit request to form an action. It doesn’t mean that the action will happen, but is expected to happen.)
PURPOSE
intended purpose (is the goal, or purpose of the expected action.)
Examples of entities that do contain information are: sheet music, mathematics, newspapers, hieroglyphics, the Bible, traffic lights. Examples of things designed that do not contain information are: a star, a snowflake, a piano, a random collection of letters.
The first law of information: information cannot originate by statistical processes (time plus chance). There is no know law in nature that can cause information to originate by itself in matter.
The second law of information: information can only originate from an intelligent sender. All codes originate from an intelligent choice and agreement between sender and recipient.
Any given chain of information can be traced back to an intelligent source. For two people to intelligently communicate there must be some agreement on the language and code that is used. DNA, the code in all living things, exhibits all four attributes of the Universal Definition of Information (UDI).
Design does not originate by chance. An arrowhead, boomerang, glass bead, are billions of times simpler than a living cell. A created code will manifest these three characteristics: 1) the message in the code is not due to the properties in the parts of the code. 2) the message in the created code is always due to the arrangement of the parts of the code. 3) the message in the code is always from the outside, the symbols are arbitrary.
The New Answers Book 2, Chapter 2 Answers in Genesis, Information: Evidence for a Creator, Mike Riddle, 6.10.10