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[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] RE: Ontologies vs Schemas vs Transformations (was Re: [xml-dev
 Places to start: http://www.jfsowa.com/ontology/index.htm http://www.jfsowa.com/ontology/toplevel.htm and for the slow slogging but necessary math http://www.jfsowa.com/logic/math.htm#Lattice Summary: The root of an upper level ontology is the empty set. Every distinction spawns its own identity in a lattice of theories. Neighbors share members but are not isomporphic. The end result is a system not unlike an ecosystem of entities negotiating partial and time-limited agreements. The problem is the determination of the membership, the ubiquity of the means of enabling and validating agreement, the means of maintaining and updating such agreements and the costs of these given a resource/energy budget. Identity of any given entity determined by its membership. However, this leads to the problem of entities that exist in the ecotonal regions which therefore have an identity in multiple systems. Open vs closed is a polarity of manageable properties that are different for different arrangements of the systems so designated. A schema is a means to declare a closed system with the exception of the use of container types that insulate a new message or data type. An ontology is a means to declare relationships but must also enable the introduction of new relationships so it is also closed to some extent. Within themselves, systems can be said to be closed but within a larger deployment environment, they are open either in a deliberate or an ad hoc fashion. Predictability is probabilistic and systems that require full certainty are difficult perhaps impossible to create mechanically. However, systems that are semi-closed and are maintained are common. Transformations are a means to denote and execute rules among and between the semi-closed systems. Such rules can be written in formal logic or even XSLT. This is largely a local choice given that any choice is not likely to be ubiquitous and each choice made closes the system by eliminating options of other systems. Most attempts at creating upper level ontologies beyond the most basic categories fail at scale although some (see CYC) operate comfortably within known limits. No size fits all. Some sizes fit most. The web will always be at its best operating at the stable edge of chaos. This will preclude some applications from being web applications. len 
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