“Distributes representation... there is no answer. It's certainly a trait of the sentence“

Thanks for this. Came here to post a comment and saw this Very similar view, with a different term.

Another way to define this is:

1. The higher level object/thing has traits/properties that the parts do not have

2. Understanding each part does not necessarily = understanding these traits

3. The parts are interdependent

4. The traits/properties of the higher level is determined by the interaction of the parts

... which is the definition of a system.