“An autopoietic system is organized (defined as a unity) as a network of processes of
production (synthesis and destruction) of components such that these components:
(i) continuously regenerate and realize the network that produces them, and
(ii) constitute the system as a distinguishable unity in the domain in which they exist.”

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.02.05.527213v2.full.pdf