This is the book you will want to read once, twice, or three times to have a good answer to your question. Humbert Maturana and Francesco Valera(1979) Autopoie

This is the book you will want to read once, twice, or three times to have a good answer to your question. Humbert Maturana and Francesco Valera(1979) Autopoiesis and Cognition: The Realization of the Living. ISBN 90-277-1015-5. Not an easy book, but one that answers your question. Terry Winograd loves this book. I am a neuroscientist and only found this gem late in my career. Damn!