In this complex mesh of information, the expression of each level of coding is controlled by the level above it. By analogy, in English the event to be described dictates the words to be used, and they in turn dictate the letter sequence. Likewise, the DNA information concerning a specific protein's structure is used only because those particular proteins are the appropriate components needed to build some larger structure. Each level encoded enforces boundary conditions on the level below it. Governance thus moves from whole-body pattern to cell pattern to molecular pattern rather than the reverse.
Life is first a resident of a world of information before being embodied in physical creatures.
The appropriate metaphor is language or computer programs, not the machine. Chemistry is about as relevant to understanding a whole organism as an analysis of the plastic of a record album would be to understanding a recording of a Brahms concerto. The concept of living essences as patterns of information raises a variety of questions about humans and other living things. For example, an informational pattern might be considered a sort of encoded elan vital . This would imply that informational patterns might be rea l entities, living patterns engaging in specifically controlled observable activities during development, etc.