Why this matters is that life, as an emergent non-equilibrium system, gives rise to functions that appear at one level and scaffold the emergence of higher-order functions. These dynamics unfold through genetic information as it operates within the constraints imposed by the laws of physics in a given environment—where structure and pattern emerge not from instruction, but from interaction: genetic, spatial, and thermodynamic. By reverse engineering this logic, we can repurpose it for new forms of cell-based computation and soft robotics.