Autopoietic
Greek autós, self + poíēsis, making
Autopoietic refers to a system capable of reproducing and maintaining itself through self-regulation, self-reference, and self-organization. The term describes systems that can produce their own components and boundaries while maintaining their organization despite material changes.
First principles
To be autopoietic is to be made by your own making.
An autopoietic system is not defined by the material it is made of, which is always being replaced, but by the closed network of processes that keeps producing that material, sets how the parts relate, and keeps the whole distinct from what surrounds it. Its identity lives in its organization, not in its parts.
At its core, it asks:
- What keeps making it?Find the processes that regenerate the parts, not just the parts themselves.
- Where is its edge?Locate the boundary the system draws to separate itself from its environment.
- What stays the same while everything changes?Name the organization that persists as the components turn over.
Etymology
- αὐτόςautós
- self
- ποίησιςpoíēsis
- making, creation
The word autopoietic comes from the Greek words αὐτός (autós) meaning "self" and ποίησις (poíēsis) meaning "making" or "creation," from ποιεῖν (poieîn), "to make." Combined, they form "self-making." The Chilean biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela coined autopoiesis in the early 1970s to describe the self-maintaining chemistry of living cells. Poiesis is the same root that gives English the words poetry and poet.