The monograph attempts to answer some of the outstanding questions facing information theory. For this purpose, the concept of information is proposed, from which it follows that information is an ideal essence of nature, manifesting itself by means of restrictions. It is seen as a factor that generates matter and through it human consciousness. The connection of information with matter, work and energy is established. On this basis, various aspects of the manifestation of information in living and inanimate nature and in its basic laws, such as the law of conservation of energy and the second law of thermodynamics, are studied. The general principles of the manifestation of information in the material and ideal worlds are derived - the principle of unitarity and the principle of equilibrium.