Re: [xri] Use of the word "synonym" in section 10

On 6/8/07, Steven Churchill <steven.churchill@xdi.org> wrote:

Drummond,

I don't understand the use of the term "synonym" in section 10.

In English, if two words are synonyms, then they have the same (or roughly the same) meaning. In the Identify field, if two identifiers are synonyms, then they refer to the same identity.

As I try to express in my text for section 11, these concepts are dependent upon the "model" (or "system") defining the notions of synonymity and identity. In a Banking system, identifiers may include a person's name(s) and account number. In that same model, identity may be defined as "the human being person having a given SSN and DOB". (Don't get confused by the fact that a SSN is also a type of identifier. That is incidental to the model. We are talking here about establishing the definition of identity. Once that is done, then Steven Churchill and Steve Churchill can be synonymous identifiers for the same identity.) In the XRI Canonical ID Verification model, there is a clear notion of synonymity and absolute identity. In any case, the model needs to be formally defined before we can start referring to this thing or that thing as a being a synonym. A synonym to what?

Section 10 introduces the term synonym without establishing a model that defines either synonymity or identity. As Gabe and others have correctly pointed out, XRI supports many such models. What are synonyms within one model are not necessarily synonyms within another model.

It is not helpful to use the term synonym outside a model defining how two identifiers get mapped to the same identity.

~ Steve

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