ABSTRACT
In Chapter 7 we looked at the way exchanges of information link individual organisms together so as to form physically more powerful communities. In Chapter 8 we considered the way in which adding free energy to a structure affects the stability of its structural bonds and, therefore, its ability to acquire and store information. In this chapter we consider yet another aspect of that energy-information linkage: the way in which discrepancies between the form of the structure and the form of its context affect the availability of free energy within the structure, hence its readiness to acquire new information. Let us begin by summarizing the relationship among uncertainty, form, and information.
