Is it just:

• A species with certain traits is more likely to persist in a their environment.

• Some elements / forces with certain traits are more likely to persist in their environment. (Eg more stable atom configurations etc)

I thought everyone was already on board with that.

The most stable configuration would be the heat death of the universe, which will then be around the longest eventually.

Would be nice if this was a bit more of an in depth article. Halo CE is one of the finer shooters ever made. Definitely one of the more important.