- From: <Patrick.Stickler@nokia.com>
- Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2001 15:16:13 +0300
- To: phayes@ai.uwf.edu
- Cc: www-rdf-logic@w3.org
> >You could, but I don't think that is a valid position considering > >the global scope intended for the SW. > > Well, I see your point, but I think that the SW is going to have to > face up to the fact that information from several sources is liable > to produce inconsistencies, and find ways of living with that. One > thing that we surely cannot do is somehow guarantee that people will > always agree with one another about everything. And once this > possibility is allowed, and people are given reasonably expressive > ways of saying things, they can contradict themselves. Tough, but > true. It's one thing to admit that we can't ensure total consistency but it's quite something else to accept standards and tools which *themselves* can create inconsistencies and ambiguity when it is *known* that they can do so and that they could be fixed so that they don't mung the data, but we don't bother. Total consistency is an unattainable goal, and we have to be realists about that, but it's still a goal to strive for, no? Hey, let's just throw out namespaces and just use the names, since any collisions and ambiguity that would result has to be dealt with anyway by SW agents -- after all, we can't ensure consistency, eh? > ... > > Sure, but that's not going to happen unless ... I would > be willing to bet money that this will not happen by chance anywhere > on the planet in the next, say, decade. ... > > Like much else in life, there is no *guarantee* that this mechanism > will not break, ... See arguments above... Patrick -- Patrick Stickler Phone: +358 3 356 0209 Senior Research Scientist Mobile: +358 50 483 9453 Software Technology Laboratory Fax: +358 7180 35409 Nokia Research Center Video: +358 3 356 0209 / 4227 Visiokatu 1, 33720 Tampere, Finland Email: patrick.stickler@nokia.com
Received on Friday, 17 August 2001 08:16:20 UTC