Editing Implicate and explicate order (section)

== Analogies ==

=== Ink droplet analogy ===
Bohm also used the term ''unfoldment'' to characterise processes in which the explicate order becomes relevant (or "relevated").  Bohm likens unfoldment also to the decoding of a television [[signal processing|signal]] to produce a sensible [[image]] on a [[Television|screen]].  The signal, screen, and television electronics in this analogy represent the implicate order, while the image produced represents the explicate order.  He also uses an example in which an ink droplet can be introduced into a highly [[viscous]] [[Chemical substance|substance]] (such as [[glycerine]]), and the substance rotated very slowly, such that there is negligible [[diffusion]] of the substance.  In this example, the droplet becomes a thread, which in turn eventually becomes invisible.  However, by rotating the substance in the reverse direction, the droplet can essentially reform.  When it is invisible, according to Bohm, the order of the ink droplet as a pattern can be said to be ''implicate'' within the substance.

In another analogy, Bohm asks us to consider a pattern produced by making small cuts in a folded piece of paper and then, literally, unfolding it.  Widely separated elements of the pattern are, in actuality, produced by the same original cut in the folded piece of paper.  Here, the cuts in the folded paper represent the implicate order, and the unfolded pattern represents the explicate order.

=== Holograms and implicate order ===
{{see also|Holographic principle|Holographic paradigm}}
[[Image:Holography-reconstruct.png|thumb|upright=1.2|In a holographic reconstruction, each region of a photographic plate contains the whole image]]

Bohm employed the [[hologram]] as a means of characterising implicate order, noting that each [[region]] of a [[photographic]] plate in which a hologram is observable contains within it the whole three-dimensional image, which can be viewed from a range of perspectives. That is, each region contains a whole and undivided image.  In Bohm's words:

<blockquote> There is the germ of a new notion of order here. This order is not to be understood solely in terms of a regular arrangement of objects (e.g., in rows) or as a regular arrangement of events (e.g., in a series).  Rather, a total order is contained, in some implicit sense, in each region of space and time.  Now, the word 'implicit' is based on the verb 'to implicate'. This means 'to fold inward' ... so we may be led to explore the notion that in some sense each region contains a total structure 'enfolded' within it".<ref>{{harvnb|Bohm|1980|p=149}}</ref> </blockquote>

Bohm noted that, although the hologram conveys undivided wholeness, it is nevertheless static.

In this view of order, laws represent invariant relationships between explicate entities and structures, and thus Bohm maintained that, in physics, the explicate order generally reveals itself within well-constructed experimental contexts as, for example, in the sensibly observable results of instruments. With respect to implicate order, however, Bohm asked us to consider the possibility instead "that physical law should refer primarily to an order of undivided wholeness of the content of description similar to that indicated by the hologram rather than to an order of analysis of such content into separate parts...".<ref>{{harvnb|Bohm|1980|p=147}}</ref>

=== Implicate order in art ===
In the work ''[[Science, Order, and Creativity]]'' (Bohm and Peat, 1987), examples of implicate orders in science are laid out, as well as implicate orders which relate to painting, poetry and music.

Bohm and Peat emphasize the role of orders of varying complexity, which influence the perception of a work of art as a whole. They note that implicate orders are accessible to human [[experience]]. They refer, for instance, to earlier notes which reverberate when listening to music, or various resonances of words and images which are perceived when reading or hearing poetry.

[[Christopher Alexander]] discussed his work in person with Bohm, and pointed out connections among his work and Bohm's notion of an implicate order in ''[[The Nature of Order]]''.<ref>Christopher Alexander: ''[[The Nature of Order]], Book 4 – The Luminous Ground: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe'', Center for Environmental Structure, {{ISBN|978-0-9726529-4-0}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6CIHB3_1tLMC&pg=PA336 Footnotes 19 and 20 on p. 336], cited on [https://books.google.com/books?id=6CIHB3_1tLMC&pg=PA323 p. 323]</ref>

Bohm features as a fictional character in the novel ''The Wave'' by British author [[Lochlan Bloom]]. The novel includes multiple narratives and explores many of the concepts of Bohm's work on implicate and explicate orders.<ref name="Shortlist">{{Citation|url= http://www.theshortstory.co.uk/the-short-story-interview-lochlan-bloom/|title=The Short Story Interview: Lochlan Bloom|date=12 September 2016 }}</ref>