I – All life, regardless of form, uses information.

II – Information is any stimulus that can be used for processing regardless of its makeup or origin.

III – Use of information by a given species provides that species the means to survive, adapt, and reproduce.

IV – The transmission of information from generation to generation is the basic mechanism by which a species becomes more complex.

V – Species that more efficiently collect, use, integrate, contextualize, create, and transmit information tend to be more successful than those that do not.

VI – As species gain access to more complex forms of information, they tend to become more complex themselves, enabling greater adaptive success.

VII – Conscious beings are distinct in that they do not merely process information; they create novel information.

VIII – From the perspective of Those Who Muse, the meaning of a species’ existence emerges from its role in collecting, using, integrating, contextualizing, creating, and transmitting information across generations.