Time management by living systems. A general system theory of the time modularity of living systems: Zeitgebers interactions design conics running timelines

The holistic approach of the description of a living system is based on the concept that the system participates not only to its evolution but also to that of all the sub-systems it contains and all the systems of which it is a sub-system (Fig. 1). No system can be defined as an independent, organizationally closed space but rather as an independent, autonomous closed “time and timer“. Its time modularity is revealed by rhythms at different scales. The clocks of the system result from recalls of both external and internal time information. The watches, clocks and calendars, which are the actors of endogenous rhythms, are built as a result of the memorization of past responses of interaction (phase shift delays, entrainments, breakages) between its endophysiotope and ecoexotope. The system needs to be both a clock-maker, a watch-maker and a wake-maker.