Re: [topicmaps-comment] OpenCyc and Topic Maps: Progress Report

["W. Eliot Kimber" <eliot@isogen.com>]

Martin Bryan wrote:

> The whole thing is riddled with errors. Look at the relationships between
> the terms dogs and domestic pets. Both are subclasses of Domesticated
> Animal, but no relationship is defined between the two terms. A domestic pet
> is a "Portable Object" but a dog is not! (If you've ever tried carrying a St
> Bernard you might know why this is so, but...!) Domesitc pets are a subclass
> of HumanOccupationConstructResident, but dogs are not... Then try looking
> for a relationship between domesticated animal food (which for some reason
> "includes feed manufactured for horses, cattle, chickens, and other farm
> animals, as well as pet food") and domestic pets, etc. Sorry I'm not
> impressed on the strength of the DAML definitions (though this may be caused
> by limitations in DAML)

This is not the place to argue about the Cyc ontology, but I think the
distinction made is appropriate: all dogs are domesticated animals but
not all dogs are pets. However, if you created an instance of dog and
asserted that it resides in a dwelling with humans Cyc will probably
infer that that dog is also a pet--I'll try it out when I get a chance.

Cheers,

E.
-- 
W. Eliot Kimber, eliot@isogen.com
Consultant, ISOGEN International

1016 La Posada Dr., Suite 240
Austin, TX  78752 Phone: 512.656.4139