> When systems reach sufficient enough complexity it is impossible to understand them by merely analyzing the individual components and understanding the rules that govern them.

Instead of "impossible" I'd rather use "unhelpful" or "pointless". In case of OS (or wind for a simpler example) we are focusing on the observable results of many small interactions. Most of the time looking at these "phenomena" from the higher level is sufficient for us - there's no point in analysing single atoms or 0's and 1's. To some extent it maight be similar in case of consciousness. One day we will be able to precisely monitor all chemical and electrical activity in neural network but it won't be necessary to make suffciently accurate predictions etc.