The indispensable supporting and retaining function of structure always has to be paid for by a “stiffening”, in other words, by the sacrifice of certain degrees of freedom. The structure of our skeleton provides an example; a worm can bend its body at any point, whereas we can flex our limbs only where joints are provided; but we can stand upright and the worm cannot.

All the adaptedness of living systems is based on knowledge laid down in structure; structure means static adaptedness, as opposed to the dynamic process of adaptation. Hence, new adaptation unconditionally presupposes a dismantling of some structures. The gaining of new information inexorably demands the breaking down of some previous knowledge which, up to that moment, had appeared to be final.

KONRAD Z. LORENZ