RE: NPR, Godel, Semantic Web

[Danny Ayers <danny@panlanka.net>]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the incompleteness theorem come into
play when you bring in arithmetic into logic? I can't think how the kind of
logic that's being talked about for the semantic web is likely to stray into
this territory. In any case - what's the likely problem? Ok, within any
given system of axioms, we can't prove all maths, but how might this affect
the web? I think the theories of chaos might have a little more bearing on
likely problems - all the feedback, all the non-linearity - should be fun.

BTW, I am not a logician. In fact, I got so frustrated trying to grasp
something apparently elementary the other day that I've just bought a copy
of 'The Language of First-Order Logic', which starts *really easy* and goes
just up to Godel's I.T., and there's also some software with it that allows
you to argue about a simple world of brightly coloured objects (joy!). I've
also ordered the legendary Wff'n'Proof as a fallback, though by the time it
arrives from the states hopefully I won't need it...

---
Danny Ayers
http://www.isacat.net

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Simon St.Laurent [mailto:simonstl@simonstl.com]
>Sent: 07 May 2001 19:33
>To: xml-dev@lists.xml.org
>Subject: NPR, Godel, Semantic Web
>
>
>I was driving home from the hardware store yesterday when I heard a report
>on NPR about Godel's Incompleteness Theorem. It concluded with a
>discussion
>of the Semantic Web, with the interviewee making claims that the Semantic
>Web would run into sizable issues with Incompleteness.
>
>They don't appear to have put the interview on their site.  Does anyone
>know where I can find information on this that's somewhat more
>complex than
>NPR can fit into three minutes but not so complex that I need a
>mathematics
>PhD?
>
>Simon St.Laurent
>XML Elements of Style / XML: A Primer, 2nd Ed.
>XHTML: Migrating Toward XML
>http://www.simonstl.com - XML essays and books
>
>
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