Each digital twin has a reality theater with a stage on which to perform in collaboration with other digital twins (persons, organizations, things, …). A theater is an instance of the OtterServer that applies OWL DL for consistency in shared knowledge and a common language dialogue for interoperability across the internet.
The semantic web provides OWL DL as a common language for knowledge definition. Knowledge definitions in OWL DL are verified by reasoners for logical consistency. Reasoners are computer code designed to efficiently uncover any inconsistency. For example, it would be inconsistent to classify a shape as both square and a circle since a square and a circle are mutually exclusive.
The diagram above shows the four theater operations of the OtterServer: lights, camera, action and perform. The arrows in read indicate how the OWL class expression is applied by the OtterServer where it defines a graph.
The class expression is the formal language for querying and updating the OtterServer graph database. It is also the formal language for defining Service Component Architecture (SCA) dialogue and the parts played by the actors (digital twins).
Lights – A logical composition of a subset of knowledge. The composition is selected from the Digital Tree of Knowledge by a person. In DL (Description Logic) lights are the terminological knowledge; abbreviated in ontology as the TBox.
Camera – Captures points in time of the named objects and stores them in a graph database. The data stored is referred to in DL as assertions with the name ABox. The storage model is derived from the TBox and queries and updates are defined by class expressions. In IT terms, the logical model is defined by the Abox and the physical structure of the database is determined by the actual content in the ABox.
Action – The structured communications between actors; the scripts they follow. Scripts are the procedural statements that define the actions of components that may contain one or more scripts. These actions include providing services and requesting services. Component scripts include functions, conditionals, parallelism, and query / update of information maintained in the ABox.
Perform – The real-time performance in the ecosystem. Service requests and database requests are received and processed in a multi-thread environment.
The “How” is 100% OWL DL. It does not use a separate language for database query and update, nor does it use a separate language to define Service Component Architecture. This makes it easier for individuals and organizations to contribute to the Digital Tree of Knowledge. They need only to learn one language for data definition, database, and interoperability. One language where its content can be verified for consistency with existing library content.
Part 3 of this article introduces the concepts of the functionality implemented in the OtterServer prototype. This introduction is very high level and does not attempt to cover the foundation of technical standards on which it is based and how these standards are applied. This information can be found in other articles found at http://OtterServer.com.
The future offers great opportunity for every person to use their talents, time, and resources to serve others. It will come in the form of a person digital twin for all those who would like to have a personal advisor to help them find their true north.
The digital ecosystem will change. This article covered the “What”, “Why”, and “How”. So, the next question is “When?”. The answer is simple; like all other recent technology changes, this one will take place very rapidly.