It refers to the inherent intelligence of nature and — probably not by coincidence — to the central inspiration of the most active part of nanoscience, which is “nano-bio,” but also nano-info, -cogno, -neuro, -opto.
Thinking of material structure as information is an emerging paradigm and a compelling one, because approaching it that way opens access to a new convergence of biology, physics and intelligent systems. These specifically include the “coding” behind molecular self-assembly, but also touch on nano-optics and quantized phenomena. Dispelling the classical view of matter as intractable solid stuff and seeing instead a permeable and active field of energies and particles, arrayed as information (“data with organic structure”) with surprising properties that can be influenced, harnessed or manipulated, both from without and within, is one of the major transformational events of the 21st C. If you are in genomics, you are likely to view DNA as a computing platform with a digital dimension; if you are a molecular biologist or work in biotechnology, increasingly the most promising paradigm is to view biology as an information system — sophisticated IT that is actually looking toward a post-digital model because molecular, atomic and quantum computing goes beyond the binary model serving today’s “calculation machines.”