Life as a Fixed Point: On the Inevitability of Biological Properties in Distributed Safety-Critical Systems

We propose that biological life is not a phenomenon unique to chemistry but a mathematical fixed point — the unique stable configuration satisfying a specific set of constraints on distributed agents. We identify four constraints that, when simultaneously imposed, admit exactly one class of solutions exhibiting properties structurally isomorphic to biological life: autonomous heartbeat, immune response, substrate dependency, self-preservation, homeostasis, death signaling, and growth without central direction. We present convergence evidence from two independent paths: biological evolution (3.8 billion years of selection) and constraint-driven engineering design (2026). We provide falsification criteria.