[Data-modeling] Which universe is that human from?

[Jeff Prucher]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: data-modeling-bounces at freebase.com 
> [mailto:data-modeling-bounces at freebase.com] On Behalf Of 
> Daniel E. Renfer
> Sent: Monday, March 31, 2008 4:42 PM
> To: Freebase data modeling mailing list
> Subject: Re: [Data-modeling] Which universe is that human from?
> 
> Tim Kientzle wrote:
> > It seems that you could simplify this in many cases by 
> using two types 
> > instead of one:
> > 
> > 1) Human, Elf, etc.
> > 
> > 2) "Star Wars Character", "D&D Character", etc.
> > 
> > "Midichlorian level" seems an appropriate property of a "Star Wars 
> > Character", not of "Human."  (Or perhaps "Midichlorian-having 
> > character," to follow an emerging trend of having single-property 
> > mix-in types.)
> 
> a "Midichlorian-having character," could also conceivably 
> have the property "Side of Force favored"
> > 
> > Of course, there are always ugly exceptions and corner 
> cases that will 
> > demand a very specific type such as "Human appearing in Volume 3 of 
> > XXXX as envisioned by YYY,"
> > but those should be unusual.
> > 
> > Cheers,
> > 
> > Tim Kientzle
> 
> The issue of humans in fictional universes get even harder 
> when you take into account all the other fictional universes 
> not yet created. Unless I am misunderstanding the way the 
> whole fictional universe concept is supposed to work, every 
> fictional character should belong to a fictional universe, 
> and a fictional universe should pretty much cover any other 
> work of fiction that the original work of fiction's 
> characters also appeared in. Ie. Spin-off, linked, and some 
> cross-over shows would all share a universe, but other shows 
> would each have their own fictional universe, no matter 
> closely based on "reality" it is. Am I right in that view?
> 
> It would get really annoying if there had to be a "human" 
> type for the "Seinfeld Universe", but how else would you say 
> that "Jerry Seinfeld" is a "human" "fictional character" 
> based on a "human" "person or being in fiction"?

Regardless of the outcome of this discussion (one human vs. many humans),
there wouldn't be a separate "human" species for every fictional universe
out there, just those in which "human" means something other than "Homo
sapiens" -- which is probably mostly a smallish set of fantasy universes.
Universes in which the setting is intended to be a representation of the
real world, including those set in the future or alternate versions of this
world, would use the bog-standard "human" topic, just as Snoopy and Lassie
are both dogs, so Jerry Seinfeld, James T. Kirk, and Sherlock Holmes are all
humans.

I would also go so far as to say that not every work of fiction necessarily
needs to have a fictional universe created for it -- only those which can
usefully make use of the other types and properties that "fictional
universe" gets you probably need to have it filled in. We could have a
"Romeo-and-Juliet-verse" but I doubt it would be very interesting.

Jeff