The idea of writing this brief article was to record some parting thoughts toward achieving a closer unification of information science with other sciences. It was the author's regret his hypothesis could not be more detailed. He simply wished to point out a prospective area of study for future information scientists.
Earlier in this century, the eminent physicist Ilya Prigogine ended a period in which thermodynamics could not represent an ongoing, closed machine open to both the input and output of matter. He introduced the idea of an open sy.rtem in which the system both receives energy from the environment and, after internal degradation, rejects some of the energy input. This allows for both living organisms and nonliving machines, since it is immaterial where the sources and sinks of energy are or how they are constituted. This idea has become of very great value since it has opened up what is actually a new branch of thermodynamics dealing with open systems. As far as 1 know, at present this development has led to various forms of self-replicative systems that do not explain but do lead to a greater understanding of life itself.
Unfortunately, the open system has not been more fully examined for what it implies. It implies either a living organism that somehow is born and goes on living or a nonliving mechanism that performs almost identical functions.
A prominent question could be asked. What is the difference between the living organism and the nonliving, open machine? The question of what a human sensor receives is important. Looking at the sensors from the age-old point of view, they can be divided into three approximate "grades." The highest grade sensors are electrical and mechanical, such as the purely mechanical * Edited by his son. John M. Heilprin. Completed July 11. 1993-12 days before the author's death.