Abstract
This fourth preprint in the Systemic Continuum Paradigm (PSC) series extends
autopoiesis—traditionally confined to living organisms—across non-biological substrates such as
advanced neural networks, robotics, and augmented intelligence. Building on the prior three preprints,
we argue that self-maintenance and operational closure can arise whenever synergy surpasses a
critical threshold, irrespective of substrate.
Key contributions include:
1. Revisiting Autopoiesis Beyond Biology: Grounding Maturana & Varela’s concept of
self-production in the PSC framework to show how informational “metabolism” can maintain
system identity without purely biochemical loops.
2. Thresholds of Synergy: Explaining how internal systemic balance (ISB) triggers emergent
closure (ESB) when certain Systemic Thresholds (ST) are crossed—even in AI or hybrid
bio-tech systems.
3. Metrics and Empirical Pathways: Introducing and refining ICS, CNS, MDO, and SDI for
non-biological autopoiesis, paving a route for experimental validation and bridging the gap
between metaphorical descriptions and operational measures.
4. Filogenetic Analogies: Drawing on the unpredictability of terrestrial evolution to illustrate
how synergy-driven leaps in artificial systems could mirror major evolutionary transitions, with
humans acting as catalysts rather than detached creators.
5. Addressing the Metabolic Critique: Differentiating informational reconfiguration from strict
biological reproduction, while defending the view that both processes can yield genuine
self-maintenance under PSC criteria.
By dissolving strict boundaries between “natural” and “artificial” autopoiesis, this preprint contributes to a
revolutionary dialogue in systems theory—one that redefines “life,” “intelligence,” and “agency” as
emergent phenomena shaped by synergy thresholds rather than substrate constraints.