I like the comparison between inanimate machines and living machines (if I may
call them so). When studied purely as i/o systems they are very similar. The
great difference, as I see it, is that the "machinery" of the cell is largely
self-organized. And if I'm not totally mistaken this self-organization is not
equilibrial (crystalline) but dynamic (dissipative structure).
> Something that isnt self-producing (example a machine) is
>something in which the parts were manufactured before assembly.
This is partially true. What I think you mean here is that in a machine the
machine does not replace/renew its components once they have been inserted. This
is true. But it also true that an autopoietic (self-producing) system may be
"kickstarted" by some external factory. For instance, all cells are initially
produced by some other cell through mitosis (cell-division).
Onar.