The new conception of order as revealed by the holographic paradigm

Abstract

My claim is that among the various attempts at giving a metaphysical representation of the physical world, Bohm’s holographic paradigm is powerfully explanatory and deserves consideration. The central notion of this paradigm is the order as intrinsically related to any scientific theory. In particular, the order characterizing this new paradigm finds its exemplification in the hologram. The hologram, indeed, reveals interesting features: first of all, when suitably illuminated, it shows a construction of two different levels of order, an implicate one and an explicate one, which, however, give rise to a general whole unbroken order; moreover, each part of the hologram contains the information of all the other parts revealing again an unbroken wholeness. I will disclose this new concept of order, following Bohm’s suggestion, both from a metaphysical and a mathematical perspective. In particular, I will show that the passage between one kind of order to the other is accomplished by a holomovement that consists of continuous unfoldment and enfoldment and that is well represented by the Green function and some algebraic transformations. Afterwards I will explain why this hologram paradigm is explanatory, especially dealing with the problem of nonlocality due to quantum entanglement and the quantum-classical divide. Finally I will claim that even though this view has been regarded as superficial and detached from reality, its explanatory power and its mathematical description should not be overlooked. My conclusion will therefore state that the order developed by Bohm could be considered a good start to create a new theory able to rightly address and solve the challenging problems of the quantum world.