Minimal Active Structure: A Survival Ontology for Persistent Systems

This note outlines a survival-oriented ontology observed across biological, cognitive, and physical systems, in which persistence arises from minimal active structure rather than maximized control or representation. Using examples from fungal networks, neural organization, and large-scale physical dynamics, it argues that long-lived systems embed continuous entropy dissipation and constraint-based adaptation, allowing failure to be recycled rather than resisted. The document is descriptive rather than prescriptive and is intended as a conceptual lens for understanding why certain structures endure across scales.