ontolog-forum
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [ontolog-forum] Disaster Management ontology BOF in Delft

To: "[ontolog-forum]" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: "John F. Sowa" <sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 08 Jun 2007 17:45:06 -0400
Message-id: <4669CDE2.1020006@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Wacek,    (01)

I was taking the notion of "be" in the most generous sense
of the term -- namely existence in a Platonic heaven of
mathematical entities -- something along the lines of
Cantor's heaven of infinities of infinities of sets (as
Hilbert and Gödel conceived of it).    (02)

JFS>>  ...there must be a complete and consistent description
 >> of the entire universe for all time.    (03)

vQ> First, what is meant by 'description'?  A written, spoken
 > sentence, a thought, a collection of propositions?    (04)

A collection of propositions as abstract entities in that
Platonic heaven.    (05)

vQ> If there is such a description, is the description a part
 > of the universe, and as such, is it a description of the
 > entire universe -- thus including the description itself?
 > If it is not, what does 'entire' mean?    (06)

It is impossible to have a perfect model of any physical system
that takes less space and matter than the system itself.    (07)

Any description of a physical system that gets down to the atomic
level would require more atoms to record it than there are atoms
in the system.    (08)

As I said in my earlier note, such a description would constitute
a sizable chunk of MoG (the Mind of God), which I assume would be
located (if "located" is an appropriate term) in a Platonic heaven.    (09)

John    (010)


_________________________________________________________________
Message Archives: http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/ontolog-forum/  
Subscribe/Config: http://ontolog.cim3.net/mailman/listinfo/ontolog-forum/  
Unsubscribe: mailto:ontolog-forum-leave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Shared Files: http://ontolog.cim3.net/file/
Community Wiki: http://ontolog.cim3.net/wiki/ 
To Post: mailto:ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx    (011)

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>