I think a system is _always_ defined by its constraints. Not so much its components. Perhaps its features? But not components. No-one gives a flying fux if you're using postgres or mysql or some other hippie database. That's a component, and no-one cared.
I think emergence comes from complexity, not constraint. Constraint may kill emergence, but constraint on its own means nothing. What's the point of laws in a country with zero inhabitants?
