uom-ontology-std
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Re: [uom-ontology-std] Foundations of Measurement

To: bateman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: uom-ontology-std <uom-ontology-std@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: "John F. Sowa" <sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:23:02 -0400
Message-id: <4AA7E476.5020100@xxxxxxxxxxx>
John,    (01)

I agree that ontologies should be able to make things better,
and I hope that they will.  But that is still a hope.    (02)

JFS>> ... computer systems have been sharing data and interoperating
 >> for over half a century without detailed ontologies...    (03)

JB> sometimes they do, and if one is lucky, nothing goes bang.
 > Sometimes however they don't and the results can be nasty.
 > So arguments against developing ontology on the basis that
 > all is fine and dandy are rather easy targets.    (04)

I wouldn't be spending so much time on this forum if I didn't
believe that ontologies can be very useful.  However, it's important
to realize that a bad ontology (or even a good one that is not well
suited to the application) can be worse than no ontology at all.    (05)

The primary theme of that slide presentation is to survey the
field of semantic systems, to analyze some of the successes and
failures, and to recommend a way to make progress without creating
even more incompatibilities.    (06)

Following is a copy of Slide 119.    (07)

John Sowa
___________________________________________________________________    (08)

7. Integrating All Semantic Systems    (09)

Semantic systems recognize, represent, and respond to the
meaning of the data and the goals of the users.    (010)

But meaning is independent of any particular logic or language,
natural or artificial.    (011)

The proliferation of incompatible semantic systems is a scandal
that is strangling the growth of the entire field.    (012)

The oldest legacy systems can interoperate more easily than
two modern systems based on different logics or ontologies.    (013)

Semantics should facilitate the interoperability and integration
of all systems, legacy or modern, independently of the language,
ontology, or methodology with which they were implemented.    (014)

Source:  http://www.jfsowa.com/talks/cnl4ss.pdf    (015)


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