# white (color)

a visual mark that does not differ from the thing it is about and differs from black

- Computed level: L9 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: emergence  ·  Arena: definition

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [marks](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-marks.visual), [black](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-black.color), [difference](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-difference.relation), [visual](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-visual.perceptual)

**Through:** the visual mark and black together are a visual quality that does not differ from the thing it is about

**Novel properties:**
- lack of contrast with substrate
- perceptual neutrality
- distinction through absence

## Examples
- A sheet of unmarked paper in sunlight reflects 85% of incident light, indistinguishable from the surrounding air in a grayscale camera image. *(physics)*
- The 'white' squares on the 1886 London chess tournament board were made of unstained maple, identical in hue to the room's plaster walls under gaslight. *(institutions)*
- The 2017 Apple MacBook Pro's 'white' casing showed no contrast against fresh snow in a Reuters photograph taken at 10:14 UTC on March 20. *(engineering)*

## Used by
- [silver](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-silver.metal) (L14)

---
*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-white.color*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-white.color.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*