When functioning, systems operate with general efficiency within the context in which they operate. However, any system can be subject to stress, threatening the overall system with collapse and dissipation. Most systems have two means of coping with stress being applied: translation and transformation.
When a system adjusts to stress via translation, it maintains the overall integrity of the system but either adjusts the flow of operations within the system or swaps out parts for more efficient parts that, in turn, make the system more efficient. A relatively simple example would be changing the oil in your car to a low-temperature viscosity oil and using steel belted tires in conditions of cold and heavy snow. The overall system remains roughly the same. However, it can now cope with the stress of colder environments. Its operations have been translated in such a way that the overall form of the system remains roughly the same.
When a system adjusts to stress via transformation, the overall form of the system changes. It will likely need to integrate new materials into its operation to transform the system. It will produce an entirely new system with unexpected and unpredictable features. This leads to a higher level of complexity overall and causes the original system to integrate holonically into the new system.
The unpredictable features of the new system as a result of transformation are emergent properties. These properties cannot be predicted based solely on the features of the lower-ordered parts. This kind of emergence is how novelty enters into systems.
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