# elephant in the room (silence)

*Ordinarily means:* an obvious problem that nobody talks about

a salient difference that sits beyond the wall of the group's statement window, keeping the issue present but outside what the group will say

- Computed level: L18 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: group dynamics

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [difference](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-difference.relation), [wall](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-wall.range-end), [window](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-window.range), [collective](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-collective.group), [statement](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-statement.communication), [present](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-present.gift), [keep](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-keep.maintenance)

**Through:** the group keeps the difference out because the wall of its statement window lies below the difference's magnitude

**Novel properties:**
- unspoken salient discrepancy

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