Autopoiesis...

This was said of autopoiesis. I can only smile, he said upon return...

"When the flow of energy and matter though them increases, they may go through new instabilities and transform themselves into new structures of increased complexity."

Fritof Capra, The Web of Life (New York: Anchor Books, 1996), p. 89

Autopoiesis ("self-making") refers to the characteristic of "living" systems to continuously renew themselves and to self-regulate this process in such a way that the integrity of their constitution is stable. All components of an autopoietic network are produced by other components in the network. In this, the entire system is organizationally closed, yet open with regard to the flow of energy and supplies. Whereas a mechanical device is geared to the output of a separate product, the product of a autopoietic system is simply itself.

The concept of autopoiesis views organisms as active agents within the framework of evolutionary change and not just passive effects of natural selection. Case in point...the metabolism of a living cell combines order and activity in a way that defies description by mechanistic science. It involves thousands of chemical reactions, all taking place simultaneously to transform the cell's nutrients, synthesize it basic structures, and eliminate its waste products. Metabolism is a continual, complex, and highly organized activity.

Of this, the clockwork world of the eighteenth century, and the linear world for the nineteenth and early 20th century is refreshingly opening to the non-linear and adaptive dynamics of natural systems.