Life's Principles

Adapt to changing conditions

* Incorporate diversity
* Maintain integrity through self-renewal
* Resilience through variation, redundancy, decentralization

Be locally attuned and responsive

* Leverage cyclic processes
* Use readily available materials and energy
* Use feedback loops
* Cultivate cooperative relationships

Use life-friendly chemistry

* Break down products into benign constituents
* Build selectively with a small subset of elements
* Do chemistry in water

Be resource efficient

* Use low energy processes
* Use multi-functional design
* Recycle all materials
* Fit form to function

Integrate development with growth

* Self-organize
* Build from the bottom up
* Combine modular and nested components

Evolve to survive

* Replicate strategies that work
* Integrate the unexpected
* Reshuffle information