System = Method + Structure

Take a human, for example. The structure that supports the system is the body – the compiled version of the DNA source code. The methods, however, are things such as consciousness, experience, personality, thought, and emotion that run on top of the structure. You could duplicate the structure, but that won’t necessarily result in the same methods. Take identical twins, for example. They have mostly identical genetic data and thus mostly identical bodies, but they may not do the same things, think the same ways, or otherwise act like the same person.

There are two ways to create a system: Either the structure must be fully present before the methods can emerge or the structure and methods must codevelop (the latter is how evolution typically works). You can’t build the methods if the structure supporting them is nonexistent, just as you can’t construct a building from the top down.

Edit: Oddly enough, this appears to be a fundamental principle of the Jainist view of the universe. That means even more interesting discussion on the nature of systems, so I don’t mind!