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Re: [ontolog-forum] Time representation

To: "[ontolog-forum]" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: "John F. Sowa" <sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 12:19:04 -0500
Message-id: <47962588.6060402@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Pat,    (01)

That statement is true of the standard model:    (02)

 > if you have intervals, you have the points at their ends.    (03)

Suggestion:  use the word 'instant' instead of 'point':    (04)

  1. That allows instants to be infinitesimally small (i.e.,
     mathematical points).    (05)

  2. But it leaves open the question of finite granularity.    (06)

  3. It also avoids the question of whether the grain is
     a sharply delimited interval or a distribution, such
     as a quantum mechanical wave packet that fades away
     without any sharply defined boundary.    (07)

  4. It also leaves open the nature of an interval, which
     could be defined with instants at the ends that might
     themselves be have fuzzy boundaries.    (08)

By using the word 'instant', we can state generalizations
that are true of a wide range of models without making a
firm commitment to the nature of the granularity.    (09)

John    (010)



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