{
  "id": "network.system",
  "term": "network",
  "sense": "system",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 9,
  "arena": "EmergenceLexicon",
  "domain": "everyday",
  "style": null,
  "definition": "A system that connects distinct entities so they can interact with each other.",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "system.organized",
      "links.connection",
      "distinct.attribute",
      "connects.verb",
      "entities.object",
      "interacting.social",
      "interaction.process"
    ],
    "interaction": "The connects.verb relation joins entities.object via links.connection, enabling a structured system.organized in which distinct entities interact through mutual change.",
    "novel_properties": [
      "mutual change between entities",
      "structured connectivity",
      "emergent interaction topology"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The 2003 Northeast Blackout spread across 8 U.S. states and Ontario when overloaded power lines tripped, cascading failures through the grid.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    },
    {
      "text": "The human brain's default mode network synchronizes activity across distant regions during rest, using white matter tracts as physical pathways.",
      "domain": "biology"
    },
    {
      "text": "Bitcoin's peer-to-peer network validates transactions every 10 minutes across thousands of nodes, maintaining consensus without central authority.",
      "domain": "computing"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "id": "system.organized",
      "note": "is-a",
      "type": "is-a"
    },
    {
      "id": "interaction.process",
      "note": "enables interactions among parts",
      "type": "enables"
    }
  ],
  "used_by": [
    "download.digital",
    "server.digital"
  ],
  "forms": [
    "network",
    "networked",
    "networking",
    "networks"
  ],
  "closed": true,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "openrouter:openai/gpt-oss-120b",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.6,
    "reconciled": {
      "by": "openrouter:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
      "date": "2026-07-31",
      "changed": "components",
      "note": "Added missing 'interaction.process' as it is constitutive to the interaction described in the definition and necessary for mutual change. All components are pre-existing and non-cyclical. Definition r"
    }
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-network.system"
}