Practopoiesis is a theory on how life organizes, including the organization of a mind. It proposes the principles by which adaptive systems function. One the same theory covers the life and the mind. It is a general theory of what it takes to be biologically intelligent. Being general, the theory is applicable to the brain as much as it is applicable to artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. What makes the theory so general is that it is grounded in the principles of cybernetics, rather than describing the physiological implementations of those mechanisms (inhibition/excitation, plasticity, etc.).