INFORMATION IN NATURE, HUMAN-BEHAVIOR, AND SOCIAL-LIFE

The notion of information seems to be growing into one of the central, unifying concepts of modern science, natural as well ag social or beh avioral. Conceived basically as the degree of order or organization of a system, any system, it originated in the discipline of thermodynami cs in which, briefly, it turned out to underlie a system's capacity fo r converting energy, i.e., for doing 'work' of some kind. Now, the fac t that humans, too, are physical systems, does not automatically imply that this notion of information or order should also be relevant to t he explanation of human behavior or social life. Yet, this is precisel y what the autonomous development of theory in this area reveals. In t his contribution we explore, briefly and informally, the meaning and r ole of the notion in scientific theory, in the attitudes underlying in dividual behavior, and in the structure of social systems as a prime d eterminant of their power, cultural and economic development, and of t he quality of life therein.