ONT Re: determining contingent synthetic truth

[Jon Awbrey <jawbrey@oakland.edu>]

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seth, ont-list, as i already used my suo ticket for today.
but what you are talking about is what is commonly meant
by 'computing a predicate', say, a predicate q : X -> B.
that is, if somebody gives you a value x in X, you have
to return the value q(x) in B.  'recursive' just means
that you have 'recourse' to a finite base of resources,
like primitive functions that you are given for free.
it does not mean viciously circular, clever, loopy,
self-applied, or anything like that, except that
to 'make infinite use of finite means' you will
typically be forced by a brand of pragmatic
pigeonhole principle to return to the same
means over and over again on a 'recurring'
or an 'ultimately periodic' basis.  when
you talk about programs in general, and
not just this or that finite mechanism,
then you are stuck with these issues.

jon awbrey

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JA = Jon Awbrey
SR = Seth Russell

SR: Consider a situation that tests real time reality or a situation where
    we need to run a program or test a voltage against a threshold before we
    can determine if an object has an attribute or is an instance of a class.
    How do we express the relationship between the class (or attribute) and
    a program which senses it?  For example a program that asks a person
    a question and returns a value {True, False, NoAnswer} according to
    their answer to the question:  "Are you married?"   Where do we put
    that *program* in our ontology?  Why can't I find programs anywhere?

JA: seth, if you are really interested in predicates that are computable by programs,
    and not just being coy, then you need to look into computability theory, of which
    i don't think you'll find a bunch in sumo world.  my first ventures into the area,
    in many ways still my favorite books, were arbib, and minsky & papert.  also good
    for quick brushes with the topic are boolos & jeffrey, cutland, and davis.  enjoy!

SR: No!  I'm not talking about computing the predicates themselves, I'm talking
    about a program that would ascertain the truth of a predicate in real time.
    Nothing coy, or clever, or recursive needed here.  I'm just talking about
    the input/output ports of the computer.  Suppose I wire my light switch to
    a computer memory location, and contrive that if the light switch is on,
    then address location 12345 contains hFF otherwise it contains h00.
    Then I write a program, call it IfMyLight, which returns True when
    address location 12345 contains hFF.  My question is:  in the sumo
    ontology, how do I express the knowledge that the truth of the
    predicate (attribute MyLight On) is contingent on the program
    IfMyLight returning a value of True?

SR: Let's not make this more complicated than it needs to be!

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