All: A forum is supposed to be a place for open discussion. Pat Hayes began this tread itching for a fight. A forum is not a fracas and this group should not tolerate such behavior.
[MW>] Pat is known for being forthright. It’s a mistake to look for anything worse. His other problem is that he is usually right. If I had been trying to come up with a confused definition of thing, I doubt if I could have done as good a job. That is at best disappointing.
Pat: If you indeed have the one right way for building and executing real world ontologies,
[MW>] Well I think here we would generally agree that there is more than one right way to build and execute a real world ontology. However, there are infinitely more wrong ones. But one or two bad definitions is a long way short of disaster.
the FIBO community is very interested in seeing this. In the meantime there is nothing to be served by attacking the great work of others.
[MW>] I am sure there is some great work in FIBO, but the definition of thing is not part of it.
I have watched these "how many angels can fit on the head of a pin" arguments lead to nothing useful many times.
[MW>] This is much more basic. It is about what makes a definition at all, and then what makes a good one. As usual there is more than one right way, but the definition of thing does not exemplify one of them. Better not to defend the indefensible.
Regards
Matthew West
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