Re: SUO: On the supreme supertype
"John F. Sowa" <sowa@bestweb.net>:
>In mathematics, there is another tradition that solves this
>problem: the two "thumbtack symbols". The top one looks like
>a san-serif letter T, and the bottom one looks like an upside
>down T. Those are the two symbols used for the top and bottom
>of a lattice, and those are the ones that I used for the top
>and bottom of all the lattices in my 1984 book and my 2000 book.
>
>Those symbols have the advantage of being language-neutral,
>international, and traditional in mathematics. The primary
>objection is that many people wanted a pronounceable word
>for them. So I suggested Entity as a synonym for T, which
>is much more international than "thing".
Maybe we should abbreviate it to TIT by omitting the surrounding
en-y, and then if anyone wants a bottom element they can call it TAT.
These could be considered to be respective acronyms for The
Inconceivably-big Thing (which of course the universal Entity must
be; and which implicitly admits the possibility of being unable to
refer to whatever this name refers to, which apparently is seen as a
good thing in some circles) and The Absolutely-ridiculous Thing,
which seems as good as any name for a hypothetical bottom element of
the universal classification. These names also have the merit, I
might point out, of being XML-compliant. (It occurs to me that a
possible alternative name for the bottom element might be Absolutely
Stupid Something, but delicacy forbids that I take this idea any
further on a public forum.)
Pat Hayes
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