Re: Temporal validitity of subject indicators?

Hi Aki,

Am 08.05.2011 um 21:18 schrieb Aki Kivelä:

> 
> Hi Robert et al,
> 
> 8.5.2011 19:49, Robert Cerny kirjoitti:
>> The mess is not caused by a merge operation, the mess is caused because a person reuses but misunderstands a (foreign) subject identifier and attaches statements to a topic which they actually do not belong to. Once both interpretations reach the Topic Maps ecosystem (great term, Andrew!), the damage is done.
> 
> Well, doesn't that really resemble the way language evolves. Once I use a word (shared subject identifier) to refer something slightly different to it's common meaning, people (probably) still understand me and can decide whether my identifier was a mistake, a dialect-word, a joke or had a special tone.

A word is something completely different than a subject identifier. The biggest difference being the way we learn the meaning of words as children and the amount of playful and systematic effort that humankind puts into maintaining natural language. If our children would loose their ability to acquire natural language, within one generation everything humankind has achieved over the last couple of thousand years would be lost. In two generations we would be at the very beginning of where we started surrounded by things we do not understand. If we would loose Topic Maps, it would not quite be the same.

> Or maybe I just have a hidden (political) agenda and want you to focus to something I want. Somehow I am ready to believe that the usage of identifiers is the most important way of defining subjects behind them. And usage refers here the usage in actual topic maps. Thus, speaking about damage in context of using words (shared subject identifiers) is a very strong expression. Now, throw me a stone :)

If you do not considered it damage, then i have not made myself clear. It is damage if a topic map consumer is misinformed, which will happen if two people use the same subject identifier for different subjects (for whatever reason).

Kind regards,

Robert