Life as Self-Sustaining Information Flow: Redefining Life and Survival Beyond Biological Substrates

Classical continuity frameworks often define identity as preservation of fixed semantic structure across time. However, biological evolution, recursive intelligence, and open-world adaptive systems demonstrate that stable systems may undergo radical transformation while preserving deeper historical continuity. This paper introduces the SPF Hierarchical Identity Framework, extending Self-Preserving Flow (SPF) theory beyond static semantic preservation toward multi-layer historical invariance. We distinguish between: • Local semantic identity • Meta-historical continuity identity and show that intelligent stability depends not on preserving surface form, but on preserving reconstructible invariant lineage across permissible transformations. This resolves the apparent contradiction between evolutionary adaptation and continuity preservation in recursive intelligent systems.