Re: [xml-dev] Markup, an abstraction

John, perhaps you are able to see the far side of things, at least of words. This morning, before starting to write the posting, I took the Bible from a shelf (the first time in years) and started to read: "Am Anfang schuf Gott Himmel und Erde,,," and read on: "Und Gott sprach: Es werde Licht! und es ward Licht. Und Gott sah, dass das Licht gut war. Da schied Gott das Licht von der Finsternis."

So you read what I wrote, as well as what I did not write.

I wish I understood better what you say about units. "It is the human mind that does the carving." Do you mean to say that words have nothing to offer except "convenience of thinking"? Would you say that even great discoveries (relativity, uncertainty principle, ...) are convenient representations of what is given to us, not reflections of something essential? Do you think the carving ceases at the borders of our thought? If so, what *is* taking place, out there, in here?

Hans-Juergen

Von: John Cowan <johnwcowan@gmail.com>
An: Hans-Juergen Rennau <hrennau@yahoo.de>
CC: Michael Kay <mike@saxonica.com>; Peter Hunsberger <peter.hunsberger@gmail.com>; "xml-dev@lists.xml.org" <xml-dev@lists.xml.org>
Gesendet: 17:25 Samstag, 31.August 2013
Betreff: Re: [xml-dev] Markup, an abstraction

On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 4:45 AM, Hans-Juergen Rennau <hrennau@yahoo.de> wrote:

For me, "unit" is a Zauberwort (magic word). The emergence of Life, as well as its maintenance, requires the carving of *units* from apparently unstructured blocks, soups, streams.

Ah, yes. "Am Anfang schuf Gott Himmel und Erde. [...] Und Gott sprach: Es werde Licht! Und es ward Licht. Und Gott sah, daß das Licht gut war. Da schied Gott das Licht von der Finsternis." No mention of darkness being good too.

But today is Saturday, and therefore I am a Daoist, who believes that 樸 pǔ, the Uncarved Block, is the state from which we come and to which we return. It is the human mind that does the carving, and "units" are something we impose on the data (Latin: "what is given" to us) for our convenience in thinking. This is what I was trying to express to you at lunch in Montreal: there is no best way to do things (specifically, to express JSON in the XDM), only a good or bad way for one's present purposes. But seemingly we were at cross-purposes.

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