Xref: utzoo sci.philosophy.tech:1469 comp.sw.components:239 Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!usc!henry.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ucla-cs!uci-ics!zardoz!tgate!ka3ovk!drilex!axiom!linus!mbunix!bwk From: bwk@mbunix.mitre.org (Barry W. Kort) Newsgroups: sci.philosophy.tech,comp.sw.components Subject: Re: Art -> Engineering -> Science Summary: Data -> Information -> Knowledge -> Insight -> Enlightenment Message-ID: <71189@linus.UUCP> Date: 15 Sep 89 01:39:33 GMT References: <6103@pt.cs.cmu.edu> <6433@hubcap.clemson.edu> <866@metapsy.UUCP> <6894@cs.utexas.edu> Sender: news@linus.UUCP Reply-To: bwk@mbunix (Barry Kort) Organization: The MITRE Corporation, Bedford, Mass. Lines: 28 In article <6894@cs.utexas.edu> turpin@cs.utexas.edu (Russell Turpin) writes: > "Is one form of knowledge more 'proper' than another? I don't > see how one could say that." > Sarge Gerbode I don't know about "proper", but some forms are more useful. When a jigsaw puzzle is assembled so as to reveal the big picture, the information is more usable than when the pieices lay jumbled up in the box. Facts which are sorted and organized are more useful than a collection of unorganized data. We structure and organize information by putting it into outline form, corresponding to a heirarchical or "tree" topology. Complex systems of information are compiled into "semantic networks" which have richer topology than simple trees. Hypercard is a good example of a tool for organizing information into a semantic network, where you can easily navigate through the knowledge base. Modern computer-based thesauri are another example of a nicely structure semantic network. So I feel it is useful (maybe even proper) to knit pieces of information into a fabric of knowledge. --Barry Kort