Information is defined in the article as a structure carried from one material medium to another, and communication is like this transfer itself. The physical, biological and social varieties of information and communication are distinguished, their generic similarity and genetic relationship are analyzed. The methodological principles on the basis of which this work was done are explicated. First, these are the principles of preservation and monism, which underlie any scientific research. Secondly, the formula "Human Anatomy is the key to the anatomy of the monkey" requires moving in the study of information and communication from their higher species to the genetically earlier and less developed ones. Thirdly, the requirement to analyze information and communication is not isolated, but represented as two sides of a single whole.