Autopoiesis
Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30
CORE DEFINITION
The essential characteristic of living systems is "self-creation" and "self-maintenance." Cells produce the components that make up the cell, and these components in turn constitute the cell. The system interacts with its environment, but its organizational structure is closed and self-referential.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
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Definition of vitality. A good organization or community must be "autopoietic." That is, it can endogenously generate metabolism (cultivating new people, generating new rules) rather than relying on external transfusions. If a system stops functioning without the founder's strong intervention, it is a machine, not a living thing.
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Maturana and Varela proposed that living systems can self-produce and self-maintain their organization: components are continuously generated by the system itself, and the system boundary remains closed and self-referential in interaction with the environment. The criterion is "operating autonomously without external continuous intervention," distinguishing it from machines driven solely by external forces.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopoiesisverified
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