Re: How will the semantic web emerge - OO languages

On 21 Dec 2005, at 16:42, <tim.glover@bt.com> <tim.glover@bt.com> wrote:
> Surely not! How do you make that deduction? There is nothing to  
> stop you
> writing such a system, but it is not supported by the official RDF
> semantics.

I think the distinction is between what is, and what you can deduce.  
If I steal your wallet I am a thief. You need not deduce that. But  
that does not make it less so. The foaf ontology makes certain  
statements about the relations between things. A consumer of these  
statements need not be very intelligent, indeed it need not even be  
able to make any inferences. It does not follow that those inferences  
are not contained in the ontology.

Sometimes of course it helps to be dumber, as it allows one to act a  
lot faster.


Henry

> -----Original Message-----
> From: semantic-web-request@w3.org [mailto:semantic-web-request@w3.org]
> On Behalf Of Henry Story
> Sent: 21 December 2005 15:18
> To: Russell Duhon
> Cc: Frank Manola; semantic-web@w3.org; Joshua Allen
> Subject: Re: How will the semantic web emerge - OO languages
>
>
> RDF is a declarative language so things are at first view somewhat
> different. We are working in a space where inferencing is the norm.
> So if something
>
> [ foaf:firstName "Henry"].
>
> you can deduce
>
> [ foaf:firstName "Henry";
>    rdf:type foaf:Person ].
>
> This is not like saying "treat it like a foaf:Person". It *is* a
> foaf:Person. Those relations go hand in hand. When you say one, you
> are commited to the other. You are so committed in fact that you
> don't need to state the foaf:Person part. It is part of your first
> statement. Just as when you say x is a bachelor, you are saying he is
> an unmarried man.

Received on Wednesday, 21 December 2005 16:12:05 UTC