Re: SUO: questions about SUMO
Dear Matthew,
Quoting you from: http://suo.ieee.org/email/msg08413.html
> Let me try to confuse you with a few facts.
Cannot do that, I am already confused, this is a case for indempotency. ;-))
> You seem to be saying that structure is the most important thing. I
> certainly think that structure is important. However, it is important
> because it supports/fails to support what you wish to express, so without
> a clear idea of what sorts of things you wish to say, you cannot determine
> whether some structure is suitable.
It's all a matter of degree about the respective weights of "precise"
contents definition versus end-usage specifications.
Which is most critical?
The nature of what's to be handled OR the purpose of the handling?
It thus depends on the exact matter at hand, on the aims of the USERS
(yes, they are the ultimate reason for doing anything) and on personal
"taste" and "judgement" of the designer, so, it's debatable and no
*definite* criterion of choice is obvious.
Actually, it IS appropriate for anyone to pursue along his currently
preferred ideas. It is just that some paths may prove to be eventually
detrimental to the very persons that follow them. In some sense it is
THEIR problem, but unfortunately, a "standard" effort like SUO will
impact more people than it's designers, this is why I OBJECT!
> However, it is still a matter of the current state of science that time
> is not the space of real numbers, however you wish to express it.
EVEN MORE THAN YOU MIGHT THINK!
There has been a recent book in physics:
"Le Vide. Univers du Tout et du Rien" E. GUNZIG et S. DINER Eds. 1998
Revue de l'Université Libre de Bruxelles.
Editions Complexe 24, rue de Bosnie, 1060 Bruxelles
(Tel.: 32 2 538 88 46, Fax : 32 2 538 88 42)
There will be or perhaps already is an american edition by Plenum.
A collective work of high level articles halfway of science, philosophy
and speculations, but still from *real* physicists.
Among which a paper from Christophe Schiller, Research Dpt. Phillips Eindhoven NL
entitled "Le vide differe-t-il de la matiere" (is vacuum different from matter)
where he argues that due to the Planck constant NO space-time coordinate is
reducible to an arbitrary precision and therefore CANNOT be represented by
a differentiable manifold.
So much for the real numbers!
Cheers.
-- Jean-Luc Delatre
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"... a witty and attractive Thracian servant-girl is said to have mocked Thales
for falling into a well while he was observing the stars and gazing upwards;
declaring that he was eager to know the things in the sky, but that what was
behind him and just by his feet escaped his notice."
- Plato, Theaetetus 174,A
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://perso.club-internet.fr/jld/ -- GSM: +33 6 11 24 06 29