>Understood and agreed
>
>I think part of this discussion is about whether reality (uncertainty
>in this case) exists independently of the observers. (01)
I really hope it is NOT about this
undergraduate-level concern. Let us try
strenuously to avoid such pseudo-philosophical
black holes as this. (02)
The other issue however is the idea that there
can be an objective notion of uncertainty. That
is a more mature question, but again I wonder if
it relevant to ontology design. (03)
>I am trying to distinguish between the uncertainty that is independent
>of the observer,
>and the uncertainty that depends on the perspective adopted by the observer
>
>
>the uncertainty about a bridge becoming unstable
>is different about the uncertainty of the engineers being able to predict it
>
>I consider the former an objective uncertainty - soemthing engineers
>cant do much about, simply a fact of life, therefore a dimension of
>reality, although we cannot model the dynamic precisely we know its
>there (04)
Its not clear to me that engineers, except
perhaps those working at the nanoscale with
quantum effects, *ever* consider a notion of
objective uncertainty. Virtually all of applied
physics can be interpreted in a deterministic
universe. (05)
Pat (06)
> -
>
>and the second uncertainty is subjective - engineers decide to what
>extent they want/can incorporate uncertainty in their model,
>therefore it looks to me like a subjective perspective (the risk
>model adopted by the engineers may or may not be suitable to the risk
>which exists independently from the observer)
>
>PDM
>
>
>
>On 8/30/07, John F. Sowa <sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Paola,
>>
>> Different people may prefer different perspectives.
>> Their preferences may be subjective, but that does not
>> imply that the perspectives are subjective.
>>
>> To take the example of the photographs of the city,
>> perhaps you prefer one photo and I prefer another.
>> Our preferences are subjective, but each photo is
>> an objective representation of one perspective.
>>
>> > ... how can I express such distinction otherwise?
>>
>> I suggest that you can start by expressing them as a list
>> that says "Here are multiple ways of describing the same
>> thing from different perspectives."
>>
>> The goal of science is to find general equations or other
>> kinds of formulas that can characterize a large collection
>> of low-level data more concisely.
>>
>> One of my favorite examples is the collection of data by
>> the astronomer Tycho Brahe, who made very accurate measurements
>> of the motions of the planets because he wanted to support the
>> Ptolemaic theory about how the sun and other planets revolved
>> around the earth. But then his assistant, Johannes Kepler,
>> used the same data to demonstrate that the earth and other
>> planets went around the sun in elliptical orbits.
>>
>> You could say that Brahe and Kepler started with the same
>> objective data, but they had different preferences about
>> how it should be generalized. In the end, Kepler's version
>> proved to be simpler, more general, and more accurate than
>> Brahe's.
>>
>> John
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>--
>Paola Di Maio
>School of IT
>www.mfu.ac.th
>*********************************************
>
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