Theory of Coupled Entity Life: Redefining Life via Functional Coupling and Spatial Securing by Code and Execution Substrates

[Abstract]Conventional biology and cognitive science have long regarded living organisms, characterized by an independent physical body or their own metabolic system, as the sole paradigm of life. Under this traditional framework, however, it is impossible to provide a unified explanation of the autonomous and adaptive operations exhibited by non-cellular viruses, or by languages, concepts, and programs executed within computing platforms. Instead of defining life as an attribute of specific physical matter, this paper redefines life as a "systemic operative state" itself, which continuously satisfies the three axioms: "Boundary Maintenance," "Internally Initiated Discriminative Connection," and "Irreversible State Change." Furthermore, this paper decouples the constituents of systemic operations into Code and Execution Substrate, proposing the concept of the Coupled Entity, a system wherein both constituents functionally couple to initiate systemic operations. On this basis, we structurally elucidate the dynamics of "Spatial Securing" within a Coupled Entity through two forms of control: Integrative Control, in which multiple Execution Substrates form a single operative system, and Effective Control, in which control is established from the Coupled Entity over an Execution Substrate. Through analyses of the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) as a biological case and of language and concepts as informational cases, this paper reveals that systemic changes accompanying the operation of a Coupled Entity are inevitable "structural consequences" arising in the process of maintaining its own operative state. While this paper systematizes the macroscopic dynamics of life as a whole, the axiomatic system and operative process defining the minimal single-cycle operative event for the aforementioned three axioms to be objectively established are formulated in the parallel paper, Theory of Functional Agency. The two papers have a complementary relationship, serving as the modeling of micro-level operative processes (Theory of Functional Agency) and the framework of macroscopic dynamics (Theory of Coupled Entity Life), respectively. This paper provides a robust process-ontology that bridges the Free Energy Principle and Active Inference with complex informational systems, offering a unified foundation for multi-agent modeling, complex adaptive systems, and cultural dynamics. [Japanese Title]結合体生命論:記述と実行基盤の機能的結合と空間確保による生命の再定義 [Japanese Abstract]従来の生物学や認知科学は、独立した肉体や自前の代謝系を持つ生体個体のみを生命の典型とみなしてきた。しかしこの枠組みでは、非細胞構造のウイルスや、言語、概念、計算プラットフォームで実行されるプログラム等が示す自律的・適応的な作動を統合的に説明することができない。本論文では生命を、物質的・物理的な実体として定義するのではなく、システムが外部環境と関わる機能的プロセスである「境界維持」「内部起点の識別接続」「不可逆的状態変化」の3公理を連続的に満たすシステム作動状態として再定義する。加えて、作動の構成要素を「記述」(Code)と「実行基盤」(Execution Substrate)に分離し、両者が機能的に結合することで作動を立ち上げる「結合体」(Coupled Entity)の概念を提示する。その上で、結合体における空間確保(Spatial Securing)の動態を、複数の実行基盤が一つの作動系をなす統合支配(Integrative Control)と、実行基盤への制御として成立する実効支配(Effective Control)として構造的に解明する。また、生物学的なタバコモザイクウイルス(TMV)および情報的な言語・概念の分析を通じ、結合体の作動に伴うシステム変化が、自らの作動状態を維持する過程で生じる不可避的な「構造的帰結」であることを明らかにする。なお、本論文が生命動態を体系化するのに対し、前述の3公理が単発の作動イベント(1サイクル)において客観的に成立するための最小単位の公理系および作動プロセスについては、並列論文『主体性機能論』にて定式化を行っている。両論文は、ミクロな作動プロセスのモデル化(主体性機能論)とマクロな動的展開の体系(結合体生命論)として相補的な関係を有する。