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The Emergent functionality cannot be replicated by the parts
operating individually. If the underlying synergy loses coherence the
new functionality disappears. The phrase “The whole is greater than
the sum of its parts” is often quoted as capturing the core of the idea of
higher functionality. More practically, "The whole has different
functionality from the sum of the parts and can do things the parts
individually cannot do" is more useful.

Spontaneous Undirected Action

An example would be the Internet. Multiple brilliant individuals
evolved the technology standing on the shoulders of those who
labored before them; most worked for or were associated with
institutions (e.g., Tim Berners-Lee at CERN). Each was driven by his
or her local concerns and built on extant technology to solve a problem
that interested them. None of them set out to create the current
communications web that is reshaping the world. Other individuals
took the internet, created browser technology and evolved e-
commerce each driving their own interests. Adam Smith's Invisible
Hand can be thought of as an expression of Emergence, millions of
individuals pursuing their individual need to feed their families
creating an economy.

Emergence can seem Confusing

Emergence can be a confusing construct for business people when
viewed through the lens of science-oriented writers. That said, let's
start with termites!

The Driving Process: Stigmergic Action

The driving process behind Emergence is stigmergic action, a term
coined by Pierre-Paul Grasse in the 1950s in conjunction with his
research on termites. Grasse showed that a particular configuration of
a termite’s environment triggered a response in a termite to modify its
environment, with the resulting modification, in turn, stimulating the

response of a second worker to further transform its environment.

Thus the regulation and coordination of the building and maintaining
of a nest were dependent upon stimulation provided by the context,

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