Recently I had a conversation with Oxford physicist Andrew Briggs that might explain why some people will be uncomfortable with this book.
Andrew said, “Paul Davies likes it when I speak at his conferences because Paul always asks me to come and talk about what I do NOT know - and most scientists prefer to stick with what they do know.”
“Demon in the Machine” is a book about what we DON’T know… sprinkled with hints pointing the way to solutions.
“Demon” in the title refers to an idea in physics called Maxwell’s Demon who is a tiny sentient entity who in theory could reverse the direction of entropy if he could open or close a door, keeping hot molecules on one side and letting cold ones escape to the other.
If you send a text message to a friend on a smart phone, and never type any words but ONLY select from choices the autosuggest offers you, you are acting like Maxwell’s demon. You are making a very finite set of choices, but doing so purposefully. If you try it, you’ll find you can construct pretty elaborate and coherent sentences that way - where the phone itself would only produce automated gibberish.
It is precisely this kind of decision behavior that defines biology itself in the generation of information. The origin of information is arguably the #1 unsolved problem in biology; and it’s not just the question of life’s origin; it’s also the central question of evolution itself and the nature of the mind.
That’s because evolution is not a function of random copying errors and selection, but highly sophisticated sensory networks, expression of genes, epigenetic changes, and exchanges of DNA that are contextually adapted to the challenges at hand. Only in the last couple years has the public started to hear about this shift.
Paul Davies is what I call an “Interdisciplinary Explainer” - someone who is 1) immersed in many different disciplines and has deep knowledge of all of them, and 2) is adept at explaining them in plain English and endeavors to find commonalities between them.
I spent a few hours with some grad students at Arizona State University in the ASU Beyond Program, which Paul Directs. I immediately noticed that while all of them were in wildly different specialties, each patiently took the time to explain their work in plain English. This is not typical, but it indicates the culture Davies creates both at the school and in the book.
My experience is that the Interdisciplinary Explainer, once you find him, will carry you further in one hour than most professors take you in 20 hours. This book delves into many topics of biology - the chapter on cancer is absolutely fascinating, and Davies canvasses dozens of conceptual models from physics; explores cellular automata and algorithms; new trends in evolution; questions about consciousness and perception; competing theories of quantum behavior in cells.
And near the end he suggests that we may have to kill a 500-year-old sacred cow: The notion that all scientific laws are universal. Yes, it’s a tremendous convenience to assume that gravity works the same everywhere in the universe; it may even be true. (Or not.)
But what is certainly true is that biological systems are linguistic and linguistic systems are always contextual. The sequence 1001001 (or its equivalent in DNA code or other biological signaling systems) can literally mean a million different things in a million different situations.
People have been raising such questions for decades, but for mainstream science to fully embrace this will be a first-class paradigm shift - as big a shift as quantum mechanics or relativity.
This is why I anticipate a number of complaints about this book - mostly from people who haven’t gone deep enough to appreciate the importance of what he’s saying:
1) Very few people will be familiar with even the majority of topics he talks about here; this book takes work to read and will force you to think. It crosses ten different disciplines.
2) This book does not cater to the reductionist biases of the typical science reader who likes Richard Dawkins or Lawrence Krauss. If you’re a fan of those guys, Davies will not antagonize you but he will challenge your thinking.
3) Davies understates, in my opinion, the gravity of what he is saying. Most questions about information in biology are far from answered, but if he’s right 25% of the time, we’re in for some radical revisions of basic science itself. But whether he says so loudly or softly, it’s going to make people squirm. Especially those who feel most scientific controversies have been settled.
My favorite chapter? It’s a tossup between the one on bird navigation and the one on cancer.
Cancer: Davies received a grant to take a physicist’s novel and inquiring approach to the causes of cancer, starting with a blank sheet of paper. Most cancer research rehashes the same assumptions and his team came up with fresh insights. He makes a persuasive case that cancer is a very very old, preprogrammed response to stress.
Bird navigation: Davies pieces together research that suggests that birds may be able to literally see, in some sense, lines of the earth’s magnetic field; this is why Arctic Terns can fly 80,000 miles a year and never end up on the wrong continent. Davies gives you enough details for you to look into the matter yourself and make up your own mind.
Again, whether he’s right or wrong he will make you think.
The Demon in the Machine: How Hidden Webs of Information Are Solving the Mystery of Life
4.3 | 447 ratings
Price: 15.04
Last update: 02-26-2025
Top reviews from the United States
Perry Marshall
A more profound book than most will realize
Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2019
J.C.H.S.
Fascinating book about the molecular chemistry that keeps us alive, controlled by information.
Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2019DoctorViv
Very Worthwhile Read
Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2023David E. Hall
Incredible book
Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2020