In an emergent system, what components to combine is the most important part.

That's where the magic comes from!

If you look at it in stasis, it will look like the components individually are the most important part; they make up the bulk of what you see in the system.

But actually it is the fluidity that is most important, the way the components flow together into squishy, changing structures.

If you take a picture of a stream, you will see lots of molecules of H2O. But what is most important about a stream is the flow, the currents, the eddies and vortices and laminar flows.

A system that can get magic to emerge out of ordinary components is itself magical.

That takes judgment and insight and open-endedness.

A system that can maximize the value for this user right now, not maximize the value for the authors of the components.