Difference between revisions of "Universality"

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Universal, [[Universality]] or [[Universal property|Universal properties]]/[[Universal Property]] are technical terms defined in [[Technical Term::Mathematical Logic]], however, as the word implies, its philosophical and operational implication reaches beyond the scope of mathematics, and logics. When used properly, universality can be a powerful tool to examine or categorize things/events that have generally applicable properties. It can have direct operational implication in designing data-intensive applications and engineering artifacts, particularly in the area of [[Internet of Things]] ([[IoT]]). Keep [[universality]] in mind during design, would significantly help the design and implementation quality of [[Information Architecture]].
Universal, [[Universality]] or [[Universal property|Universal properties]]/[[Universal Property]] are technical terms defined in [[Technical Term::Mathematical Logic]], however, as the word implies, its philosophical and operational implication reaches beyond the scope of mathematics, and logics. When used properly, universality can be a powerful tool to examine or categorize things/events that have generally applicable properties. It can have direct operational implication in designing data-intensive applications and engineering artifacts, particularly in the area of [[Internet of Things]] ([[IoT]]). Keep [[universality]] in mind during design, would significantly help the design and implementation quality of [[Information Architecture]].
=Universal Constructs=
=Universal Constructs=
[[wikipedia:Universal construction|Universal construction]], also known as [[Universal property]], is an ideal pervasive in the literature of [[Category Theory]]. This ideal, or the thesis of [[Category Theory]], offered a very different approach to organize knowledge. It is different in a way that it claims all things, all phenomenon came from a single, universal source. This claim indicates that if you master the mechanisms of how this single universal construct generate individual things, all things come from this single idea. That means you don't need to study anything else, since all of them are just variants or descendants of this [[universal construct]]. [[wikipedia:John Henry Newman|Saint John Henry Newman]] who argued for all knowledge, including theology must be taught in a university, may have thought about the following logical argument, too.
{{:Universal construct}}
If all things are descendants from a certain universal construct, religions must be derived from such construct.
 
The notion of utilizing [[universal construct]] to bridge understanding between different domain knowledge has been explicitly articulated by [[Olivia Caramello]]. She has several videos on this subject by Olivia Caramello<ref>{{:Video/Unification and morphogenesis}}</ref><ref>{{:Video/The idea of 'bridge' and its unifying role}}</ref><ref>{{:Book/Political Numeracy}}</ref>.
==Developmental History==
==Developmental History==
The notion of universality has been discussed under a few different names. For example, Leibniz calls it [[Monad]], which is a kind of universal construct that he claims to be the building block for anything, including material world, and non-material world, such as [[consciousness]]. The notion of [[Monad]] has since been extended by software engineers and mathematicians to model complex systems<ref>[[Don't fear the Monad]]</ref><ref>{{:Video/YOW! 2013 Philip Wadler - The First Monad Tutorial}}</ref>. As [[Richard Southwell]] explained in his video on [[Video/Seven ways to visualize functions|Seven ways to visualize functions]]<ref>{{:Video/Seven ways to visualize functions}}</ref>, he stated that [[Category Theory]] is [[What are the features that must be added to a perfect language?|close to be the '''perfect''' language]]. This means that we should be able to represent all things in terms of [[function]]s. The notion of representational universality has been proposed by [[Ben Koo]] that a small set of algebraic operations can represent systems of any kind in the paper<ref>{{:Paper/Algebra of Systems}}</ref>, [[Algebra of Systems]]. [[Brendan Fong]]'s doctoral thesis<ref>{{:Thesis/The Algebra of Open and Interconnected Systems}}</ref> on [[Thesis/The Algebra of Open and Interconnected Systems|The Algebra of Open and Interconnected Systems]] may provide a theoretical foundation for creating such universal construct. The thesis explicitly presented the idea of [[decorated cospan]] as the central theme.
The notion of universality has been discussed under a few different names. For example, Leibniz calls it [[Monad]], which is a kind of universal construct that he claims to be the building block for anything, including material world, and non-material world, such as [[consciousness]]. The notion of [[Monad]] has since been extended by software engineers and mathematicians to model complex systems<ref>[[Don't fear the Monad]]</ref><ref>{{:Video/YOW! 2013 Philip Wadler - The First Monad Tutorial}}</ref>. As [[Richard Southwell]] explained in his video on [[Video/Seven ways to visualize functions|Seven ways to visualize functions]]<ref>{{:Video/Seven ways to visualize functions}}</ref>, he stated that [[Category Theory]] is [[What are the features that must be added to a perfect language?|close to be the '''perfect''' language]]. This means that we should be able to represent all things in terms of [[function]]s. The notion of representational universality has been proposed by [[Ben Koo]] that a small set of algebraic operations can represent systems of any kind in the paper<ref>{{:Paper/Algebra of Systems}}</ref>, [[Algebra of Systems]]. [[Brendan Fong]]'s doctoral thesis<ref>{{:Thesis/The Algebra of Open and Interconnected Systems}}</ref> on [[Thesis/The Algebra of Open and Interconnected Systems|The Algebra of Open and Interconnected Systems]] may provide a theoretical foundation for creating such universal construct. The thesis explicitly presented the idea of [[decorated cospan]] as the central theme.

Revision as of 03:23, 24 February 2022

Universality
Term Universal
Knowledge Domain Science, Mathematics, Mathematical Logic
Parent Domain Cognitive Science


Universal, Universality or Universal properties/Universal Property are technical terms defined in Mathematical Logic, however, as the word implies, its philosophical and operational implication reaches beyond the scope of mathematics, and logics. When used properly, universality can be a powerful tool to examine or categorize things/events that have generally applicable properties. It can have direct operational implication in designing data-intensive applications and engineering artifacts, particularly in the area of Internet of Things (IoT). Keep universality in mind during design, would significantly help the design and implementation quality of Information Architecture.

Universal Constructs

Universal construct is a class of mathematical object or data type that unifies certain properties into a singular object or a common structure.

Developmental History

The notion of universality has been discussed under a few different names. For example, Leibniz calls it Monad, which is a kind of universal construct that he claims to be the building block for anything, including material world, and non-material world, such as consciousness. The notion of Monad has since been extended by software engineers and mathematicians to model complex systems[1][2]. As Richard Southwell explained in his video on Seven ways to visualize functions[3], he stated that Category Theory is close to be the perfect language. This means that we should be able to represent all things in terms of functions. The notion of representational universality has been proposed by Ben Koo that a small set of algebraic operations can represent systems of any kind in the paper[4], Algebra of Systems. Brendan Fong's doctoral thesis[5] on The Algebra of Open and Interconnected Systems may provide a theoretical foundation for creating such universal construct. The thesis explicitly presented the idea of decorated cospan as the central theme.


The Official Universal Data Type

Partially ordered set, or POSet is considered to be the universal data type for all things representable. As a mathematically rigorous property that applies to all cases in a domain explicitly represented by a fixed, often finite set of symbols. A short statement about POSet's Universality can be found on page 131 of Davey and Priestly[6]Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many. More over, Eugene Wigner's talk on The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences[7], is also a good place to get a sense of universality.

Idealized Space

Another way to talk about universaily, is to think of it as a way to express the most ideal situation for representing certain concepts[8]. There are also ways to operationalize the transformation of computable structure, such as work done by Michael Arbib[9].

Namespace Management as a way to represent Idea Space

For the purpose of representability, using concrete names to denote ideas is a necessary practice. However, the practical matter of managing namespaces at large can be challenging. Therefore, using a general-purpose namespace management tool, such as MediaWiki, can be a pragmatic solution. Clearly, Wiki is not just about its database, but also the integrative user experience that come with its browser-friendly nature, so that everyone can use this namespace management infrastructure anywhere. Henceforth, Wiki's namespace management can be thought of as a kind of universal data abstraction mechanism. The three aspects of namespace management can be stated as:

  1. Scalability: The sizes of application-specific namespaces can be scaled to requirements
  2. Highly Available: The functionality of namespace management is always available
  3. Security: Namespace data content can be protected in ways that will not be contaminated or destroyed.

Operational Advise

In order to attain universality operationally, it might be useful to read Peter Morville's book[10] on Book/Planning for Everything.


References

  1. ↑ Don't fear the Monad
  2. ↑ Skills Matter, ed. (May 1, 2020). YOW! 2013 Philip Wadler - The First Monad Tutorial. local page: Skills Matter (formerly YOW! Conferences). 
  3. ↑ Southwell, Richard (Sep 11, 2019). Seven ways to visualize functions. local page: Richard Southwell. 
  4. ↑ Koo, Hsueh-Yung Benjamin; Simmons, Willard; Crawley, Edward (Nov 16, 2021). "Algebra of Systems as a Meta Language for Model Synthesis and Analysis" (PDF). local page: IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SYSTEMS, MAN, AND CYBERNETICS. 
  5. ↑ Fong, Brendan (2016). The Algebra of Open and Interconnected Systems (PDF) (Ph.D.). local page: University of Oxford. Retrieved October 15, 2021. 
  6. ↑ Davey, B. A.; Priestley, H. A. (May 6, 2002). Introduction to Lattices and Order. 5 (2nd ed.). local page: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-78451-1. 
  7. ↑ Wigner, E. P. (1960). "The unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics in the natural sciences. Richard Courant lecture in mathematical sciences delivered at New York University, May 11, 1959". Communications on Pure and Applied Mathematics. local page. 13: 1–14. Bibcode:1960CPAM...13....1W. doi:10.1002/cpa.3160130102. Archived from the original on 2020-02-12. 
  8. ↑ Beskin, Daniel (Apr 19, 2020). Daniel Beskin- Category Theory as a Tool for Thought- λC 2019. local page: LambdaConf. 
  9. ↑ Arbib, Michael; Manes, Ernest (1979). "Intertwined Recursion Tree Transformations and Linear Systems". Information and Control (No. 40, ed.). local page: Academic Press: 144-180. 
  10. ↑ Morville, Peter (2018). Planning for Everything: The Design of Paths and Goals. local page: Semantic Studios. 

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