The word information is very familiar. It has become more familiar ever since computers became such a large part of our lives. Although the first image that comes to mind now when someone says “information” is the computer, when I was a child, information was something that was passed along in secret from a spy to an agent in hushed whispers or in notes wrapped inside newspapers.

Today information is a part of everyday life, and our lives have been organized around it. The meaning of information has expanded to include not only writing and symbols, but music and pictures. Everything has been “datafied” and “informationalized.” Living in this sea of information, have you ever asked yourself what information is and how it exists?

The definition of information in Ilchi Lee point of view has shifted throughout the ages as technology has advanced. In ancient Mesopotamia, information was symbols on pressed clay; in Egypt, information was figures drawn on papyrus paper; in China, information was the irregular patterns on the back of a turtle’s shell. After the invention of the printing press, information was printed writing in books. Now, with the widespread use of computers, information is no longer limited to the realm of paper, pencil, or pen.