On information, entropy, and early stone tools

Abstract

Humans affect the biosphere by producing entropy as living beings –as explained by Schröedinger [What is Life? The physical aspect of the living cell (Cambridge University Press, New York, 1992)] – but mostly as a consequence of our ever increasing economic interventions. However, humans also create new forms and arrangements of matter. Is it possible that they carry less entropy than equivalent object subject to natural forces? Art and tech works tell us something, thus carry information. The connection between probability and information was introduced by Shannon 75 years ago [Bell Syst. Tech. J. 27, 379–423 (1948)]. In this work we calculate the probability that a stone tool could have been constructed by random, natural causes. We do so by considering the earliest tools created by our hominin ancestors, the stone tools of the Paleolithic. By analysing a sample of tools, we show that they are highly unlikely constructs by random means, and that therefore carry a great deal of information, as generations of archaeologists and anthropologists have eloquently exhibited. Further, we quantify this information, and following Shannon, we ascribe an entropy to the stone tools. We thus find that the stone tool carries less entropy than a stone hit by dispersed blows. This work presents a first simplified approach to these important issues.