Re: what is the meaning of the RDF model theory?

>From: "Pat Hayes" <phayes@ai.uwf.edu>
>
>>  >I don't expect you or the W3C to adopt that philosophy ... but by the
>same
>>  >token I don't expect you to rule it out by what you write in our
>>  >specifications.
>>
>>  Tough luck. But in any case, if you are uninterested in truthvalues
>>  or interpretations, and consider them unimportant, the existence of
>>  an MT does not restrain your activities in any way. Just ignore it.
>
>Ok, I pretty much intend to.  Yet, I must confess,  I am drawn to this
>theory, I am fascinated by it  ... it somehow lends legitimacy to our
>graphs.

Quite.

>  I even want a model theory for mentography.  Anyone want to help
>me make one?
>
>>  >Now let me ask a more practical question which, hopefully, will help me
>>  >focus my understanding of your document.   Before the Model Theory [1],
>we
>>  >had RDF graphs and detailed specifications of how to form and communicate
>>  >them [2 - 6].  Can you provide an actual example of a RDF graph that
>adheres
>>  >to those specifications, yet is invalid according to the Model Theory ?
>>
>>  No, but the question isn't meaningful. Validity is a property of a(n
>>  inference) process that transforms graphs into other graphs, not a
>>  property of  a graph.
>
>Ok, I used the wrong word again.  The question I am trying to ask in the
>broadest terms is:  What difference will the MT make?.   It seems to me that
>the MT is supposed to tell us what a graph ~means~

Say 'could mean', then yes.

>and even provides an
>algorithm to determine that ~meaning~.

NO! Interpretations need not be computable. (Some of them are, but 
that's not the point.)

>  But this ~interpretation thingy~ can
>never be manifested inside a computer (can it?),

Some can, some can't.

>so the algorithm can never
>be run (can it?).  What real difference can this theory make, except to be
>used by people in their imagination to stamp the process as legitimate ?

Ive tried to explain this in the MT document. Read the section on 
entailment to see what the point is.

Pat Hayes
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Received on Tuesday, 9 October 2001 18:45:18 UTC