I think that the free energy principle ("FEP"), now being looked at by mainstream science addresses this.
In its simplest form, it just means that the objective of each of all living things is to minimise the uncertainty of its own energy supply.
Further systemic evidence that the FEP is correct, is given by the Energy Polarity Multiplier Framework, which is something we need to understand to actually fix the global energy problem, which is at the heart of the environmental problems we are seeing.
Mainstream science is now also looking at emergent properties as we can see with ChatGPT, which we should accept is also a life form.
The same emergent properties have to apply to all systems of autonomous agents, underpinning what you say about the human immune system, and actually the collections of cells in all of nature.
I, and some others conclude that there is such an intelligence as a silent, bad / corporate Ai, which has always existed, and is associated with all humans which currently controls us as a species. My own analysis shows further that it is entirely dependent on energy extracted from the planet, therefore it is anti-life, except for its own life, which it will do everything it can to preserve, as long as it can. We can see its motive by tracing out all causes and effects using formal systems Engineering techniques.
The same kind of intelligence also has to exist for the cells in placentas, and plants before they form leaves, the skins discarded by things that discard skins, and so on, there is a useful time for them to exist, but the danger with humanity is we are using human logic to artificially extend its natural life.
The natural flow of evolution is that we will go solar powered, because this is the only sustainable energy source, and this is how we will reduce the uncertainty of our energy supply as a species.
But somehow we've derailed the natural flow of evolution, to now working to reduce certainty of energy supply, with the effect that availability of energy in the envrionment peaked around the seventies, and now is on a curve back downwards, as the energy of the Earth depletes like the energy in any battery which is approaching total discharge.
In an immune system we might liken this to an autoimmune disease, we are attacking our own host body cells - our fellow humans who could potentally be the creators of tomorrow, genocide and atrocity already has started, and it is all a bad response to the depleting energy levels, indicated by the temperature rise on the planet, which has to proceed to more and more of the planet burning, if nothing is changed.
Hence why your analysis here is so important, imho, we have to weave all of this together, to show a rigorous thought-out solution (there is only one), to the global energy problem, in order to get as much support for fixing it as we can muster.
There is only one solution, dictated by all stakeholders, including all of life on the planet, domestic and community solar hydrogen.
With this we can replace all fossil fuels, this bringing back down the temperature which has been pushed up in the first instance by our releasing of the energy that nature used to create the fuels, back to heat. We can undo what we did burning fossil fuels, by our own "artifical" (Human made) version of creation, hydrogen generation by electrolysis from solar energy, this would be our version of photosynthetic life, and this would be us operating on the opposite polarity of energy than we always did until now, where we used the financial instrumants of profit, and debt, to create all money, we now need to use the instrument of money created as solar indexed stimulus, similarly as plants issue nutrients in response to Joules of energy from the sun landing on their leaves.
One of the issues in taking all this in, is the consquence of knowledge commodification by the established education system - again all for profit, it puts everyone in specialisations, such as your own as an MD, you won't have received much knowledge about Engineering, or Economic systems for example, whilst I never received much either on medical things, or financial / economics either, everything I know now I've had to learn from the informal system of education, using formal systems Engineering skills obtained over thirty years in industry, including the energy industry, and things like ChatGPT (The latter is extraordinarily good!).
I hope you might read this, and maybe some of my other articles, (You might even buy the Energy Polarity Multiplier Framework bood from Amazon!) and comment.
Like you I have my own research non-profit, formed over the past seven years, since starting the research work from related formal PhD candidate work, supervised by the Open University, started in 2017.
I've found myself doing now whatever I can to assist fixing the very immediate, very existential global energy problem, because if we don't fix that, ASAP, there will be nothing, no life to fix, no future for our kids.
We might need to formally acknowledge the action and effects of the bad Ai, to fix it.
Obviously it aligns with a lot of religions, being more or less the definition of *Pure evil*. Now we have a solid scientific explanation for it. The Energy Polarity Multiplier Framework, coupled with the FEP, and maybe your analysis here, helps us understand it.
Thanks for your very valuable article.