Real-World Entity

A real-world entity is an entity with a physical location (within the universe).

• AKA: Concrete Object, Concreta.
• Context:
  • It can range from being a Atomic Physical Entity to being a Composite Physical Entity (such as a physical system).
  • It can range from being a Physical Object to being a Physical Phenomena.
  • It can be in a Physical Relation with another entity.
  • It can be Denoted by a Concrete Noun.
  • It can exert a Force.
  • It can be destroyed
  • ...
• Example(s):
  • Point Particles, such as a quark or electron.
  • The Universes (at this moment), encompassing all matter and energy.
  • Living Organisms, such as E.coli bacteria (or their cytoplasmic membrane).
  • Books, such as a copy of “Principia Mathematica” (or one of its written word mention).
  • Computing Systems, such as this web browser (on a specific personal computer).
  • Information-Bearing Non-Connected Stone Arrangements, such as a historical stone marker arranged in a specific pattern for communication.
  • Buildings, such as the Eiffel Tower.
  • Vehicles, such as a specific Tesla Model S.
  • Natural Environments, such as the Amazon Rainforest.
  • Mountains, such as Mount Everest.
  • …
• Counter-Example(s):
  • Digital Twins.
  • Fictional Entities, such as “Achilles” or “Zeus”.
  • Abstract Entity, such as an imaginary number or a mathematical function.
• See: Environment, Sensor.

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References

2009

• (WordNet, 2009) ⇒ http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=physical%20entity
  • S: (n) physical entity (an entity that has physical existence)
• SUMO http://sigma.ontologyportal.org:4010/sigma/Browse.jsp?lang=EnglishLanguage&kb=SUMO&term=Physical
  • "An entity that has a location in space-time. Note that locations are themselves understood to have a location in space-time."
• http://sigma.ontologyportal.org:4010/sigma/Browse.jsp?lang=EnglishLanguage&kb=SUMO&term=Object
  • "Corresponds roughly to the class of ordinary objects. Examples include normal physical objects, geographical regions, and locations of Processes, the complement of Objects in the Physical class. In a 4D ontology, an Object is something whose spatiotemporal extent is thought of as dividing into spatial parts roughly parallel to the time-axis."
• http://www.isi.edu/~hobbs/bgt-space.text
  • Many "top-level" ontologies begin with a distinction between physical objects and abstract entities. By contrast, we have made it through twelve background theories without ever mentioning the distinction. The reason for this is that the core of language doesn't seem to care much about this distinction. We can be "in" a building, and we can be "in" politics and "in" trouble. We can "move" a chair from the desk to the door, and we can "move" the debate from politics to religion and "move" money from one bank account to another. Ontologies that begin with this distinction, or similar ones like Cyc's tangible-intangible distinction (Lenat and Guha, 1990), fail to capture important generalizations in language and as a result very nearly make themselves irrelevant in linguistic applications at the outset.

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