- From: pat hayes <phayes@ihmc.us>
- Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2003 18:37:08 -0500
- To: Michael Day <mikeday@yeslogic.com>
- Cc: www-tag@w3.org
><blockquote cite="mid:p06001219bb3b24417c36@[10.0.100.23]"> > Well, OK yes you *could* say that. But it doesn't deal with the basic > point, and it stretches the notion of 'information network' to what > seems to me to be an absurd degree, so that almost all the > architectural claims no longer hold. For example, putting a URI up > on a website does not "create a link to" a galaxy 100 million > light-years away. ></blockquote> > >When this message hits the W3C archives on the web, does the blockquote >create a link to the message you just sent? I actually do not know enough about HTML to answer this, but I doubt it. (What is that mid:p06001219bb3b24417c36@[10.0.100.23] string?? If that is some URI scheme I am unaware of, then maybe the answer is yes. ) >What if it linked to a book by isbn number? No. >What if the only copy of the book was 100 million light years away? Well, how would you know if it was? But no, with present technology. >What if the book was pulped, and no copies remained? Clearly no. >If I write "10 Downing St, London" on a piece of paper, I've created a >link that traverses the planet. No, you have not created a link at all and no traversal has taken place. Think about it: it that were true, then by writing "1404 West La Rua St., Pensacola" you would have created a link to something that does not exist, which is impossible. This gets to the heart of the issue: you seem to be confusing 'link to' in a network-architectural sense with 'refers to' in a semantic sense. Reference is not an architectural idea: it does not create links or travel at the speed of light. >And yet, dereferencing the link requires >airline tickets and jet lag. Airline travel is not dereferencing. The world in general is not a computer system: words that apply to information networks are at best metaphors when referring to things like aircraft. >Michael > >(I love this thread, in all its futile glory :) I hope it is not futile, as a lot of technology depends crucially on getting the answers right. Pat Hayes -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- IHMC (850)434 8903 or (650)494 3973 home 40 South Alcaniz St. (850)202 4416 office Pensacola (850)202 4440 fax FL 32501 (850)291 0667 cell phayes@ihmc.us http://www.ihmc.us/users/phayes
Received on Friday, 18 July 2003 19:37:11 UTC