Bottom-up constraints for any dynamical system (that could be)

• What-can-be is defined by its stability conditions which act by both constraining and enabling the existence of dynamical domains:

  • Persistence of variables and regular interactions between them that we can operationally isolate and measure.

• Three main kinds of stability in nature:

  • Conservative systems (rocks, atoms, planets): robots and machines in general are conservative systems.
  • Far-from-equilibrium stability (living beings): dissipative structures, thermodynamically open
  • Sequential structures (DNA, replicating templates): require a far-from-equilibrium dynamical system of component production to replicate