Fig. 3.

Classification of major types of components in evolving systems. A process/collective cannot be completed in the absence of obligate components, whereas facultative components do not affect the outcome of the process/function of the collective. Biotic components are biological, material products, whereas abiotic components are environmental, geological, chemical, physical or cultural artefacts. Replicated components are produced by replication, which implies a physical continuity between ancestral and descendent components; they undergo a paradigmatic Darwinian evolution. Reconstructed components are reproduced without direct physical continuity, and cannot directly accumulate beneficial mutations. Fraternal components belong to the same lineage, whereas egalitarian components belong to different lineages