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FW: WWW, SW and the Chaos Theory (was RE: Beyond Ontologies)

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• Subject: FW: WWW, SW and the Chaos Theory (was RE: Beyond Ontologies)
• From: Sergio Rodriguez <srodriguez@b...>
• Date: Mon, 6 Oct 2003 17:53:12 -0600
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Hi.

  I was following this thread and some crazy thoughts came in mind...

<quote see="[1]">
An object which is chaotic in space is called
a *fractal*. There are many possible definitions of the word fractal. A
very loose and general definition is this: a fractal is a geometric
figure that does not become simpler when you analyze it into smaller and
smaller parts.
<hr />
A system whose con&#64257;guration is capable of changing with time is
known as a *dynamical system*. A dynamical system consists of some
*variables* and some *equations of motion* or *dynamical equations*. The
variables
are any things which can vary with time. They can be multiple or single,
continuous or discrete. They must be chosen in such a way that complete
knowledge of all the variables determines uniquely the *state* of the
system at one time. In other words, two similar systems with the same
values of all the variables are in identical con&#64257;gurations now,
and
will evolve identically. The set of all possible values of the
variables, i.e. the set of all possible states of the system, is called
the *phase space*. The present state of the system is one point in phase
space. As time proceeds, this point moves in phase space. The job of the
equations of motion is to determine how it moves. Given the present
state of the
system in phase space, the equations of motion tell you how you can
calculate the state at the next instant of time. As time evolves, this
point describes a *trajectory* or an *orbit* in phase space. If you know
how to calculate this trajectory, you say that you have solved the
equations of motion. Usually, you are given the state of the system at
some initial time; this is called the *initial conditions*. Then you try
to calculate the trajectory which follows from these initial conditions.
The signature of time-chaos is something called *sensitivity to initial
conditions*.
...
</quote>

[1] "Chaos, Complexity, and Entropy (A physics talk for
non-physicists)".
Michel Baranger. Center for Theoretical Physics, Laboratory for Nuclear
Science and Department of Physics Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Cambridge, MA 02139, USA and New England Complex Systems Institute,
Cambridge, MA 02138, USA MIT-CTP-3112.

... this crazy thoughts:

a) Can we define the World Wide Web (WWW) as a "dynamical system" in
Chaos Theory? 

b) Or, can we define the WWW as fractal? Not that we can draw it into a
graphic shape, but, because does not become simpler when you analyze it
into smaller and smaller parts (web sites or a set of disparate
resources -HTML pages, XML documents, binary data, etc.-).

c) Can we define the principal variables of the "dynamical system" WWW
as the resources and URIs that identify them (among others)?

d) Can we relate the equations of motion to the ontologies of the
Semantic Web?

Cheers,

Sergio.

PD: Sorry, if this has no sense at all... just some philosophical
ideas...

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