Too Long; Didn't Read
Cognitive biologists Maturana and Valera argue that the defining quality of living things is that they are “autopoietic.” <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopoiesis" target="_blank">Autopoiesis</a> literally means self-creation. Living things, Maturana and Valera explain, are able to regenerate their own parts, like how the cells of an animal die and regenerate or how a species reproduces.