# greater than the sum (excess)

*Ordinarily means:* the whole is more than just its parts added together

a whole whose boundary contains interaction among parts that changes the state of the whole in a way not possible in any part alone

- Computed level: L10 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: emergence  ·  Arena: systems

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [boundary](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-boundary.limit), [interaction](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-interaction.process), [state](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-state.condition), [whole](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-whole.complete), [part](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-part.relation)

**Through:** interaction.process

**Novel properties:**
- state.condition

## Examples
- The 2003 Northeast Blackout spread across eight states when one overloaded transmission line in Ohio triggered cascading failures. *(engineering)*
- A beehive maintains temperature at 35°C even when individual bees cool or warm by fanning or clustering. *(biology)*
- The Bitcoin network confirms transactions only when a majority of nodes agree, preventing any single actor from altering the ledger. *(computing)*

## Used by
- [going viral](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-going-viral.excess) (L15)
- [on the same wavelength](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-on-the-same-wavelength.resonance) (L11)
- [team spirit](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-team-spirit.excess) (L15)
- [word of mouth](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-word-of-mouth.excess) (L11)

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-greater-than-the-sum.excess*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-greater-than-the-sum.excess.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*