Four faces of information in natural systems

The idea of ‘information’ has been instrumental to advances in multiple fields of physics and natural science more broadly. However, despite — or perhaps because of — its pervasiveness, this key notion is used in such a wide range of settings that it is unclear whether there is coherence underpinning all these applications. Instead of advocating for a monolithic perspective, we posit that information has come to bear a number of different technical interpretations, which are usually not sufficiently disambiguated. Following this idea, in this Perspective, we put forward a pluralistic approach towards information, wherein multiple technical interpretations coexist — each bringing its own affordances and restrictions. We outline four different technical senses in which information is currently used in scientific research, which we describe as the engineering, statistical, thermodynamic and ontological ‘faces’ of information. Disambiguating the domain and scope of these faces may help to avoid misinterpretations. We also highlight the complementarity of distinct, yet equally valid applications of an information lens for natural systems.