[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] RE: Symbol Grounding and Running Code: Is XML Really Extensib
My personal opinion is that this is an unsolvable problem especially by RDF. However if you think you have a solution I have two "Turing tests" that a proposed solution should be able to handle described at http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/8/8/122029/2205 -- PITHY WORDS OF WISDOM Eat right, Exercise, Die anyway. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. > -----Original Message----- > From: Bullard, Claude L (Len) [mailto:clbullar@i...] > Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2003 1:23 PM > To: xml-dev@l... > Subject: Symbol Grounding and Running Code: Is XML > Really Extensible? > > Noting the articles from Tim Bray [1] and Jon Udell [2], > knowing as most here do that the winking and nudging over > namespace semantic assignments is really just the next level > of semantic assignment to XML productions in general, it > seems that now is a good time to discuss means for this. > > I agree with Tim that XML is a name/label/structure system > and as such, doesn't care much about this debate. However, > that simply says the developer has to care, so we still have > to face up to the symbol grounding problem elaborated in > detail by Charles Peirce in his papers on semiotics over a > hundred years ago and clarified in the works of John Sowa. > Harnad [3] explains it satisfactorily in terms of AI > approaches including combining connection systems (eg, neural > netws) with symbol systems. All good background, but there > are other approaches and we should explore these. > > In short, clearly namespaces enable composability at the > syntactic level. Just as clearly, many combinations are > meaningless. As Harnad says when defining systematicity: > > "The patterns of interconnections do not decompose, combine > and recombine according to a formal syntax that can be given > a systematic semantic interpretation." > > So in effect, we can create namespace aggregates which are > not systematic. So via namespaces, any set of XML application > productions (by which I mean, a production from HTML, from > SVG, from X3D, or XSLT) can be combined and be syntactically > correct. > > How can one determine: > > 1. If a given combination is meaningful 2. How to discover > that meaning 3. How to assign that combination or even a single > production to a running piece of code > > Item three is where the rubber meets the road. > > a. Does RDF address these questions? > b. Is it better for worse particulary for item 3 > than say using stylesheet assignments c. Are other > approaches such as abstract > object models as good or better than RDF for > writing the rules of a semantically valid > combination? > > Next, is it desirable or workable that any arbitrary > combination of XML productions from any language be > meaningful? I think the answer here is no and leads back to 1. > > I think this an important topic because it touches on issues > such as when should two application language working groups > seek convergence, can we create XML application languages > that don't set of IP tripwires by ensuring implementations > based on IP aren't a part of the language definition, should > we begin to classify semantically valid XML production > combinations, and where in that will standardization impede > innovation, is it really a good idea to use a standard > namespace name to point to running code? > > len > > [1] http://tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/08/11/SymbolGrounding > [2] http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2003/08/11.html#a775 > [3] > http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/harnad90.sgpr > oblem.html > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > The xml-dev list is sponsored by XML.org > <http://www.xml.org>, an initiative of OASIS > <http://www.oasis-open.org> > > The list archives are at http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/ > > To subscribe or unsubscribe from this list use the subscription > manager: <http://lists.xml.org/ob/adm.pl> > > >
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