Order and Complexity
David Bohm has an interesting insight on order and complexity.
He gives the following example: A straight line is the simplest curve, in which each line segment differs in position and similar in direction. A circle gets a little more complex, in which each line segment differs in position and direction, but the angles between segments are the same. Then comes the spiral, when successive pairs of segments differ in that they define different planes, turning the curve into a third dimension.
It is interesting to note that the similarities that define a straight line is different to the similarities that define a circle. We can therefore say the circle has a higher order than the line. Brownian motion, the “chaotic” movements of particles, would then be tracing a curve of infinite order.
He believes that people assume that perceptions are subjective or private, when they are simply lacking the understanding or language to describe the true quality of the order they are perceiving.