Happy 1/1/11 to all numerologists!
Happy New Year to the rest of you! (01)
On Sat, 1/1/11 John F. Sowa <sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: (02)
> Happy New Year, folks.
>
> To start the new year, I'd like to quote an economist, whose observation
> is true of nearly every model or ontology on any subject whatever:
>
> "Models generally return results close to the assumptions
> of the economists who write them."
>
> Source:
>
>
>http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052970203423004576049913136801914.html
>
> For an ontology that is designed for a specific purpose, the goal
> of getting a result close to what one expected may be desirable.
>
> But when the goal is to support interoperability among a wide range
> of systems that were designed for different purposes, it's unlikely
> that there exists an ideal ontology that is equally good for all
> of them. Therefore, any common ontology that can be used to share
> data must be a compromise that is less than ideal for each of them. (03)
This suggests to me that context is important in the ontology definition,
not just in its use. At the most basic level, the ontology would not
include many detailed rules. Such rules would exist in "theory" contexts
which could be included with the more basic ontology as desired.
Different theory contexts could be specified for different time periods,
jurisdictions, or purposes. E.g., a rental car company would use theories
of an ontology of automobile brands that a repair shop or a dealer would
not use, and they would use other theories covering the same makes and
models. (04)
-- doug f (05)
> There are many implications of this observation. Instead of trying
> to enumerate all of them in one note, I'd like to open this subject
> for further discussion.
>
> John (06)
=============================================================
doug foxvog doug@xxxxxxxxxx http://ProgressiveAustin.org (07)
"I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great
initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be ours."
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
============================================================= (08)
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