Re: Macro-massive electronic systems (questions posed)

Thank you, Malcolm.  I received a private response to my questions, stating that 
meta-data is indeed massive, that it obeys Newtonian physics, but not 
Einsteinian physics.   That "Quantum effects do not show up on observable 
scales," as you inferred.  Since Heisenberg's Uncertainty arose out of quantum 
phsyics, which arose from Einstein's relativity theories, we're at an 
impasse: does meta-data follow relativistic properties?   I think it does.  


It seemed evident to me that, while serving New Orleans seafood in a restaurant 
in Cleveland five years ago, watching its wall-mounted TV's air repeated reports 
of the hurricane that was brewing in the Gulf and approaching the the Big 
Easy, something was amiss as to its outcome.   Later, associating a numerical 
index at the US Patent Office, posing document classification numbers as 
meta-data within its electronic database, I hypothesized that the contents of 
some documentation could be electronically misconstrued as actionable processing 
instructions, with such classification numbers taking on a state of quantum 
numbering along an axis of meta data on the broader web, saturating such 
ontologies as the Keyhole Markup Language.  Has anyone ever used or heard of or 
participated in the development of Keyhole?  My hypothesis extended itself to 
the notion that this saturation may have caused an aberration (or 
amplification?) upon a system of physical properties, beyond the scope of 
cyberspace.
 
Michael A. Norton
 




________________________________
From: Malcolm Crompton <mcrompton@iispartners.com>
To: Mike Norton <xsideofparadise@yahoo.com>; public-egov-ig@w3.org
Sent: Tue, August 3, 2010 1:52:41 AM
Subject: RE: Macro-massive electronic systems (questions posed)


Mike – nice question; nice story.
 
The Observer Effect  is something that I describe as the Heisenberg Uncertainty 
Principal seen as fractal:  something that is the same at any scale, from the 
subatomic scale (where Heisenberg described it) all the way up to the human and 
beyond...
 
There is no doubt that it is in play at the human level in the online world.  It 
is described in other circles as the chilling effect of surveillance, whether it 
relates to behaviour on social networks, response to behavioural targeting in 
advertising or traditional surveillance.  All of which make it a very hot topic.
 
Regards
 
Malcolm Crompton
 
Managing Director
Information Integrity Solutions Pty Ltd
ABN 78 107 611 898
 
T:  +61 407 014 450
 
MCrompton@iispartners.com  
www.iispartners.com 
 
 
 
From:public-egov-ig-request@w3.org [mailto:public-egov-ig-request@w3.org] On 
Behalf Of Mike Norton
Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2010 2:35 PM
To: public-egov-ig@w3.org
Subject: Macro-massive electronic systems (questions posed)
 
Dear eGov Interest Groupies,
 
During my flight change in New Orleans yesterday, I got to thinking about 
something known as the Observer Effect and how it relates to pervasive 
electronic systems such as the world wide web.  A couple of questions bubbled 
up.  
 
First, is it appropriate to consider an ontology, a group of data and meta-data, 
or even an entire markup language that is functioning via the web as "massive", 
in that its associations are reflective of physical objects, associations, 
behaviors, and actions?  Does the electronic splendor of the virtual world of 
processing-instructions mirror a physical outcome relative to the mass to which 
these electrons are bound?
 
Secondly,  if the Observer Effect is to be understood as the change in an 
object's behavior due to the observation of that object, then is it possible to 
consider an Observer Effect associated within the realm of machine readable 
languages on the web?  Does meta-data hold a potential of carrying an Observer 
Effect upon itself and the data it specifies?   
 
Inside Louis Armstrong International Airport yesterday, I entered the gift shop 
and bought a New Orleans tee shirt.  At the cashier counter, as the cashier 
swiped my card and placed my new tee shirt in a bag, a couple of bags of chips 
on a rack behind her and to her side fell to the floor in a sort of domino 
effect.  She turned and looked at them fall, as I watched, too, so I asked, 
"What was that?  An earthquake?"  She responded, "It was a ghost."   I nodded, 
and agreed: "It was a hungry ghost!"
 
Cheers,
 
Michael A. Norton