Re: Some TAG review of "Cool URIs for the Semantic Web"

Pat Hayes wrote:
> 
>>
>> 7. "On the Semantic Web, URIs identify not just Web documents, but 
>> also real-world objects like people and cars, and even abstract ideas 
>> and non-existing things like a mythical unicorn. We call all these 
>> things resources."
>>
>> Of course many people would consider the Traditional Web to include 
>> mailto: links. Suggest:
>>
>> "On the Semantic Web, http: URIs identify not just Web documents, but 
>> also real-world objects like people and cars, and even abstract ideas 
>> and non-existing things like a mythical unicorn. We call all these 
>> things resources."
> 
> This seems to me to embody the central error which is causing so much 
> trouble. In what sense can a URI (or indeed any name: the fact that is a 
> URI is irrelevant in this case) be said to "identify" a real-world or 
> nonexistent entity? The direct answer is, it CANT. To even use this word 
> "identify" in this sense and in this kind of a case, is clearly and 
> provably WRONG.

It seems pretty clear that the name "Dan Connolly" identifies
me and that I am a real-world entity.

If you have a proof that this is not so, I'm quite curious to see it.


-- 
Dan Connolly, W3C http://www.w3.org/People/Connolly/

Received on Thursday, 20 September 2007 15:51:55 UTC