Ben --
You wrote....
If you give a reasoner a set of assertions, it
must assume them to be true unless it conflicts with the related
ontology. On the web, this is a ridiculous assumption. It makes every
reasoner gullible.
It would be better if every single assertion was implicitly reified
by its containing URI, with the *option* of attaching even more
metadata to the statement-about-a-statement (ie, which individual or
entity in particular is making these assertions, when they were made,
etc). Then the reasoner would be able to parse many identical
assertions, and rate their validity based on any number of factors.
For instance, you could ask such a reasoner (although probably not
in English): "do French people believe that Jerry Lewis is
funny?"
Even with no such attributes attached to a statement, the results of
any query you make could be qualified based on their popularity.
I think the problem in this discussion comes partly from trying to
address application issues at the lower meta-data and data
levels.
We have been advocating integrating the "Semantics1" of the
lower levels of the semantic web layer cake, with what one could call
Semantics2 and Semantics3.
Semantics2 spells out what a reasoning engine should be able to deduce
from any collection of rules and facts.
Semantics3 concerns the meaning of English sentences at the author- and
user-interface.
It appears that Semantics2 and 3 can address some of the requirements of
the Logic, Proof and Trust layers of the cake.
In particular, Semantics3 can be used to attach English qualifiers such a
"based on the information currently available, it is likely that
French people believe...". Trust can be helped by top down
natural language explanations of the inference process.
There's a system that demonstrates this approach, online at the site
below. Shared use is free.
Thanks in advance for comments.
Cheers, -- Adrian
Internet Business Logic (R)
Executable open vocabulary English
Online at
www.reengineeringllc.com
Shared use is free
Adrian Walker
Reengineering
PO Box 1412
Bristol
CT 06011-1412 USA
Phone: USA 860 583 9677
Cell: USA 860 830 2085
Fax: USA 860 314 1029