xml-dev - Re: I want to parse like Superman (was Re: Identity)

[David Brownell <david-b@pacbell.net>]

Lars Marius Garshol wrote:
> 
> So all this talk about names and denoting things is all presupposing
> something non-obvious. And the truly interesting thing about this, to
> me anyway, is that user-agents clearly deal with appearances and names
> and nothing else.

I'd claim that the users of those user-agents deal with appearances
and names and nothing else, as well.  For all that we think that we
may deal with physical reality, it's only a model of "reality" which
is conditioned by our perceptions of its appearance.


> So if you want identity you will have to define it first, and then
> teach the definition to your user-agents, but you shouldn't make the
> mistake of just presuming that there is one true concept of identity
> which your definition describes (or fails to describe).

Right!


> And, yeah, I seem to be headed for a major collision with Plato. Too
> bad. :)

What if Plato were one of us?  Just a stranger on the web ... ;-)

- Dave

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