Information is a state--a given pattern of matter and energy--that is characterized by its statistical likelihood.<p>There are a vast number of states that a few picograms of hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and phosphorous can be in. There are far fewer states that can qualify as the DNA molecules that encode your particular genome. Therefore, your DNA encodes information.<p>Now, no one called that &quot;information&quot; until we came along, but that doesn&#x27;t mean it did not exist before humans. Gravity didn&#x27;t have a name either until we came along.<p>Physically, there is no difference at all between what humans do and what hurricanes and waterfalls do. All physical systems are governed by the same physical laws, i.e. quantum mechanics and general relativity. Information does not violate either one.