  This paper discusses the benefits of describing the world as information,
especially in the study of the evolution of life and cognition. Traditional
studies encounter problems because it is difficult to describe life and
cognition in terms of matter and energy, since their laws are valid only at the
physical scale. However, if matter and energy, as well as life and cognition,
are described in terms of information, evolution can be described consistently
as information becoming more complex.
  The paper presents eight tentative laws of information, valid at multiple
scales, which are generalizations of Darwinian, cybernetic, thermodynamic,
psychological, philosophical, and complexity principles. These are further used
to discuss the notions of life, cognition and their evolution.
