Re:Ask HN: What Does “Holistic” Mean?
by lioeters on Thursday September 10, 2020 @12:33AM
(#24428917)
I like how you contrasted with an opposite term to clarify the meaning.
Looking up an antonym of holistic, I find:
> atomistic - Consisting of many separate, often disparate elements
..which evokes analysis, to break down into parts.
In contrast:
> holistic - Emphasizing the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts. Concerned with wholes rather than analysis or separation into parts.
..which is about synthesis, to bring parts together into a whole.
One "holistic" approach (in my mind) is a broad accounting of stocks and flows. For instance to evaluate the possibility of building a space sunshade with a solar sail factory on a carbonaceous chondrite asteroid it would be reductionistic to design the system and mission in as much detail as possible, It is another to say that you need to make 10^14 kg of mylar and 10^12 kig of aluminum and make some broad guesses about stocks and flows from there. That's more holistic.
I would say use of the holographic principle in quantum gravity is holistic, adding up thousands of Feynmann diagrams is reductionistic.