Temporal Organisation in APS - Persistence, Adaptation, and Evolution

In the APS framework, living systems are not only defined by their organisation but by how that organisation is sustained across time.

This temporal organisation is articulated through three interdependent dimensions:

• Persistence: the ongoing activity through which a system maintains the conditions required for its own existence.
• Adaptation: the reorganisation of activity under changing conditions so as to preserve viability.
• Evolution: the transformation of viability-oriented organisation across generations.

These are not separate processes or stages, but temporally differentiated expressions of a single, ongoing organisation. Persistence provides the condition of existence, adaptation enables viability under variation, and evolution captures the cumulative transformation of such organisation across time.

Together, they specify how living systems endure, respond, and change. In this sense, persistence, adaptation, and evolution are not auxiliary concepts but the temporal articulation of biological organisation within APS.