What can increase
Behavioral similarity
Components match one another more closely in state, timing, or action.
A dissociation
More similarity ≠ better function
Components can become less behaviorally similar while the whole becomes more functionally aligned.
Alignment is often pictured as convergence: the parts come into agreement, synchronize, or behave more alike. But many competent systems work through differentiation and compensation instead.
≠
What need not increase
Functional alignment
The larger task may depend on differentiated contributions rather than matching ones.
A revealing case
The body can stabilize a task by letting the parts vary.
In motor synergies, many component variables can change while a task-relevant variable remains comparatively stable.
Compensation among components means that variability at the lower level can be part of how stability is produced at the higher level.
What this reveals
Alignment has a geometry.
Some systems align through convergence or matching. Others align through complementarity, specialization, compensation, or organized opposition.
Asking only whether the parts are becoming more similar can therefore miss the very structure that makes the whole competent.
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