Systems Are Living, Not Fixed
Lily Carter July 31, 2025
Systems are living not fixed is the core principle: systems evolve over time in response to internal and external factors. From digital twins that learn over time to organizations that self-heal, this emerging trend is reshaping how we design and govern complex systems.
The idea that systems are living not fixed means we increasingly view software, organizations, cities, and technologies as adaptive, evolving entities—not static machines. That shift changes how innovation, resilience, and growth work.
This article to emphasize how modern systems continuously adapt, self-organize, and evolve—offering insight into trends like adaptive AI, bio-design, and regenerative organizations.
1. The Rise of Adaptive AI & Digital Twins
1.1 Living Digital Twins as Real-Time Ecosystems
Traditional digital twins were static simulations. Now, AI-powered digital twins function as living models—constantly sensing, learning, and evolving—reflecting real-world dynamics. These living systems can optimize operations, forecast failures, and adapt autonomously.
1.2 Autonomic Computing: Self-Managing Systems
IBM’s concept of autonomic computing introduced systems that configure, heal, optimize, and protect themselves without human input. These systems embody how systems are living not fixed, dynamically adjusting to changing loads or threats.
2. Complex Adaptive Systems: Nature as Blueprint
2.1 What Is a Complex Adaptive System?
A Complex Adaptive System (CAS) consists of interacting agents whose behavior self-organizes into emergent properties. CAS are living in the sense they evolve based on feedback loops and evolving interactions. Examples range from ecosystems to financial markets.
2.2 Self‑organization Fuels Emergence
Systems that self‑organize do so without centralized control. Agents adapt via feedback, forming resilient patterns that survive perturbations. That is the essence of why systems are living not fixed.
3. Biodesign: Designing with Life Itself
3.1 Living Materials and Regenerative Systems
Biodesign embeds living organisms like fungi, algae, and bacteria into architecture, fashion, and materials—creating products that grow, self-repair, and respond to their environment. This approach treats designed systems as alive rather than inert.
3.2 Urban Living Experiments
Take the “Urban Biosphere” in Paris—an apartment that composts waste using fly larvae, recycles water via bioponic plants, and even feeds indoor mushrooms via showers. It exemplifies how systems are living not fixed in built environments.
4. Organizations as Living Systems
4.1 Shifting from Mechanistic to Living Perspectives
Traditional organizations often treat people as parts in a machine. Under a living systems view, people have agency and the organization adapts organically. Change is not a disruption but a driver. Leaders support emergence rather than control top-down structures.
4.2 Regenerative Business Models
According to corporate strategist Carol Sanford, regenerative businesses thrive by evolving—not merely optimizing efficiency. Such organizations mirror ecology: they renew, diversify, and adapt continuously.
5. Why the Trend Matters Today
5.1 Resilience in an Uncertain World
Fixed systems break under unexpected conditions. Living systems—self-healing and responsive—adapt flexibly to shocks, whether cyber‑attacks, economic shifts, or climate disruptions.
5.2 Continuous Innovation
In living systems, adaptation is constant. Organizations and technologies evolve through feedback loops and experimentation—enabling breakthroughs rather than relying on fixed annual updates.
5.3 Sustainability & Regeneration
Designing systems that operate like ecosystems—cycles of growth, decay, and renewal—supports circular economies and sustainable futures.
6. Practical Steps for Embracing Living Systems
Step 1: Incorporate Feedback Loops
Embed real‑time sensing and analysis in systems to enable continuous learning. This could be usage analytics, environmental sensor streams, or organizational sentiment tracking.
Step 2: Build Self‑Organizing Structures
Use cross-functional teams, decentralized decision-making, and peer networks that allow emergent coordination rather than rigid hierarchy.
Step 3: Use Regenerative Design Principles
Adopt biodesign methods: materials that heal or grow, products that decompose beneficially, or architecture that adapts to climate and occupancy.
Step 4: Apply Adaptive Governance
Define policies and high-level guidelines instead of inflexible rules. Enable systems and participants to evolve while respecting goals and boundaries.
7. Real-World Innovations: Case Studies
| Domain | Example | Living System Feature |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | Adaptive factories with autonomous robots & sensor networks | Self‑optimizing through real‑time feedback |
| Smart City Infrastructure | Traffic lights adapt via transit data to reduce congestion | Autonomic regulation without central control |
| Healthcare | Continuous health-monitoring wearable systems | Adaptive diagnostics, alerts, and therapy changes |
| Ecological Design | Bioreactor walls grown from algae absorbing CO₂ | Living material that self-regulates environment |
These innovations underscore that systems are living not fixed across sectors—from factories to cities to health systems.
8. Challenges to Adopting Living Systems
Complexity Management
Living systems are inherently complex and unpredictable, requiring governance frameworks that embrace uncertainty rather than eliminate it. Traditional management relies on clear cause-and-effect relationships and predictable outcomes, but living systems operate through emergent behaviors and non-linear feedback loops. This demands new competencies in systems thinking and adaptive leadership. Organizations must develop tolerance for ambiguity and learn to navigate scenarios where outcomes cannot be precisely predetermined. Regulatory frameworks also struggle with this shift, as they typically require clear specifications that may not align with the fluid, evolutionary nature of living systems.
Ethical and Safety Concerns
Adaptive AI and living materials raise profound questions about control, accountability, and unintended consequences. When systems can learn and modify their behavior, responsibility becomes blurred—who is accountable when an AI makes harmful decisions through untraceable learning processes? Living materials that self-repair or adapt raise containment and environmental concerns. These systems may develop capabilities beyond their original parameters, making traditional safety protocols inadequate. The intersection of biological and technological systems also raises bioethical questions about the boundaries between natural and artificial life.
Cultural Resistance
Organizations often default to mechanistic thinking and resist emergent, decentralized approaches that challenge established hierarchies. The shift from command-and-control to adaptive leadership threatens existing power structures and operational certainties. This manifests as preference for detailed planning over experimentation, standardization over customization, and skepticism toward unpredictable systems. Educational systems and organizational cultures built around mechanistic principles create deep-rooted mental models that view unpredictability as a problem rather than a natural characteristic to leverage.
Conclusion: Embracing Systems That Live
The shift to recognizing that systems are living not fixed marks a pivotal change in how we build, manage, and interact with systems. Adaptation, emergence, and resilience become foundational. From digital twins and self-managing IT systems to regenerative design and organizational transformation, living systems thinking is shaping the next wave of innovation.
To thrive in a volatile, complex world, we must move beyond rigid models and build systems that breathe, learn, evolve—and live.
References
Miller, J. G. (1978). Living Systems. McGraw‑Hill. Interaction Institute for Social Change
Maturana, H. R. & Varela, F. J. (1991). Autopoiesis and Cognition: The Realization of the Living. Springer.
Wikipedia
Parent, E. (1996). The Living Systems Theory of James Grier Miller. Concordia University Press.
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