International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

A photography including diffraction patterns from which a three-dimensional image can be obtained.

Holograms are recorded by using lasers on photographic plates. "Holos" is the Greek equivalent for "Whole". As the Greek root "gram" means "write", then hologram, in D. BOHM words is thus "an instrument that "writes the whole" (1980, p.145).

Taking dynamics into account, BOHM describes the global universe as a "holomovement". This would give a kind of temporal dimension to some objects containing still traces of their past. Compare with "aura" and "homeokinesis"

Indeed, as stated by R. ROSEN: "In the hologram,… every point of the hologram contains information about every point of the object, so that the ripping a piece out of a hologram causes at worst a blurring or loss of resolution, but not the irretrievable loss of information pertaining to the object… For this reason, holograms are in fashion nowadays as brain model paradigms" (1974, p.173).

S. GOONATILAKE observes: "Using… holograms in three dimensions, enormous interconnections are possible. A cubic-centimetre hologram would allow for a trillion (10) connections alone, by interconnecting a million optical elements" Moreover: "Volume for volume the hologram therefore has an interconnection potential 100.000 times that of the brain. It appears that neural connectionist architecture using optical technology will not only increasingly dominate the future, but has the potential for reaching, if not surpassing, biological devices" (1991, p.110).

The holographic analogy is usefully applied to any system in which parts contain general information about the system as a whole. Possible examples are the brain and the administrative organization.