{"paper":{"title":"The Physics of Life: Exploring Information as a Distinctive Feature of Living Systems","license":"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","headline":"","cross_cats":["astro-ph.EP","cs.IT","math.IT","nlin.AO","q-bio.QM"],"primary_cat":"cond-mat.soft","authors_text":"Adam Frank, Andrew W. Eckford, Artemy Kolchinsky, Gourab Ghoshal, Manasvi Lingam, Matthew Egbert, Stuart Bartlett","submitted_at":"2025-01-15T09:24:06Z","abstract_excerpt":"This paper explores the idea that information is an essential and distinctive feature of living systems. Unlike non-living systems, living systems actively acquire, process, and use information about their environments to respond to changing conditions, sustain themselves, and achieve other intrinsic goals. We discuss relevant theoretical frameworks such as ``semantic information'' and ``fitness value of information''. We also highlight the broader implications of our perspective for fields such as origins-of-life research and astrobiology. In particular, we touch on the transition to informat"},"claims":{"count":0,"items":[],"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"source":{"id":"2501.08683","kind":"arxiv","version":1},"verdict":{"id":null,"model_set":{},"created_at":null,"strongest_claim":"","one_line_summary":"","pipeline_version":null,"weakest_assumption":"","pith_extraction_headline":""},"integrity":{"clean":true,"summary":{"advisory":0,"critical":0,"by_detector":{},"informational":0},"endpoint":"/pith/2501.08683/integrity.json","findings":[],"available":true,"detectors_run":[],"snapshot_sha256":"c28c3603d3b5d939e8dc4c7e95fa8dfce3d595e45f758748cecf8e644a296938"},"references":{"count":0,"sample":[],"resolved_work":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}