Elisabet Sahtouris makes the following distinction between operating as mechanism vs. organism in her book EarthDance:1
| MECHANISM | ORGANISM |
| Allopoietic | Autopoietic |
| Inventor created | Self-created |
| Hierarchic structure | Holarchic embeddedness |
| Top-down command | Holarchic dialog/negotiation |
| System engineered | System negotiated |
| Repaired by engineers/experts | Repairs itself |
| Evolution by external redesign | Evolution by internal redesign |
| Exists for product or profit | Exists for health and survival |
| Serves owners’ self interest | Serves self/society/ecosystem |
Notes:
1 Elisabet Sahtouris, EarthDance: Living Systems in Evolution, p.370.
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