I think it’s not so much a sum of properties as a union of property sets. If a system has a property that’s not a part of a union then it’s “more than the sum of its components”. On the other hand I find the notion of something being “more than the sum of its parts” about as annoying as the frequent ads with “1 + 1 = 3 Buy two and get one for free!” equation. That is, very annoying.
I think it’s not so much a sum of properties as a union of property sets. If a system has a property that’s not a part of a union then it’s “more than the sum of its components”. On the other hand I find the notion of something being “more than the sum of its parts” about as annoying as the frequent ads with “1 + 1 = 3 Buy two and get one for free!” equation. That is, very annoying.