Re: URIs within URIs

On 8/25/14 11:17 AM, Ruben Verborgh wrote:
>>> bnodes are Semantic Web, but not Linked Data.
>>> If a node doesn't have a universal identifier, it cannot be addressed.
>> I find this comment strange.
>> If you mean that I can’t query using a bnode, then sure.
>> If you mean that I never get any bnodes back as a result of a Linked Data URI GET, then I think not.
> Yes, you can get back bnodes.
> But the identifier of a bnode has only meaning in the document it is contained in.
> Hence, you cannot ask the server anything else about this bnode,
> because you don't have an identifier for it that exists outside of that one document.

Put differently, you have a pronoun in a document. The rule in the 
natural language world apply here. The term *bnode* is a bottom-up 
confusion vector.
>
> Therefore, it's maybe better to not get back bnodes at all;
> except if the server is sure the client cannot ask further meaningful questions about them
> (for instance, when all triples about a bnode were already in the response,
>   as is the case with lists, and some other situations as well).

Again, stick with the pronoun analogy [1] and the confusion should be 
reduced.

The more we align RDF with natural language sentences, the better for 
understanding, appreciation, and mass exploitation.


BTW -- I stumbled across this quote from Cyc's Doug Lenat:

"Once you have a truly massive amount of information integrated as 
knowledge, then the human-software system will be superhuman, in the 
same sense that mankind with *writing is superhuman* compared to mankind 
before writing."

which echoes another quote by John F. Sowa:

“Natural Languages are the most sophisticated systems of communication 
ever developed.”
>
> Best,
>
> Ruben
>

Links:

[1] http://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/indefinite_pronoun.htm

-- 
Regards,

Kingsley Idehen	
Founder & CEO
OpenLink Software
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