the TRIMERAL SYSTEM in BIOLOGICAL TAXONOMY - universala ...
the TRIMERAL SYSTEM in BIOLOGICAL TAXONOMY - universala ...
the TRIMERAL SYSTEM in BIOLOGICAL TAXONOMY - universala ...
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elevant facts about <strong>the</strong> group under consideration.<br />
Includ<strong>in</strong>g a situation where new f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs — ei<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong>oretical<br />
or observed — may make it necessary to alter an exist<strong>in</strong>g<br />
and accepted name, despite its previous validity. Now,<br />
s<strong>in</strong>ce it rema<strong>in</strong>s essential to know exactly which species or<br />
genus is affected, this is where <strong>the</strong> Law of Reference comes<br />
<strong>in</strong>to play. It will, <strong>in</strong> all required <strong>in</strong>stances, also give <strong>the</strong><br />
Catalogue Number — a list<strong>in</strong>g procedure for which <strong>the</strong><br />
established Decimal Classification seems ready-made. The<br />
new CBC Databank could output a totality of detail on any<br />
taxon or species, or even subspecies. And if anyone is<br />
<strong>in</strong>terested <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> historic background, all <strong>the</strong> names ever<br />
assigned, plus when and where and by whom, could be<br />
accessed too. Except that <strong>the</strong>re would no longer be any<br />
real need to preserve all those little known and often<br />
unpronounceable personal names.<br />
So <strong>the</strong> globeflower might be fully catalogued as:<br />
Trollius laxus CBC 34-1056.<br />
At <strong>the</strong> moment of publication, this system of catalogu<strong>in</strong>g all liv<strong>in</strong>g th<strong>in</strong>gs<br />
<strong>in</strong> a worldwide databank may appear like sciencefiction to some, not<br />
aware yet of <strong>the</strong> BioCode commotion. However, even <strong>the</strong>y cannot stay<br />
bl<strong>in</strong>d for <strong>the</strong> explosive growth of <strong>in</strong>formation technology nor for this<br />
practicability be<strong>in</strong>g near at hand. In fact, such catalogu<strong>in</strong>g would and<br />
should become a fully automated process, provided it is modelled on <strong>the</strong><br />
way <strong>the</strong> human bra<strong>in</strong> stores and accesses its <strong>in</strong>formation. 5 No formally<br />
constituted oversee<strong>in</strong>g authority (always lagg<strong>in</strong>g beh<strong>in</strong>d) would any<br />
longer be necessary if <strong>the</strong> CBC — through on-l<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g with o<strong>the</strong>r<br />
databanks — cont<strong>in</strong>ually monitors all <strong>the</strong> relevant books and periodicals.<br />
If a given name allocation is found <strong>in</strong>, say, five (dist<strong>in</strong>ctly) different<br />
sources dur<strong>in</strong>g, say, three consecutive years, <strong>the</strong>n this name will<br />
become officially recognized and recorded as such — without any<br />
human <strong>in</strong>tervention! While no specialist could ever hope to consult each<br />
and every member of his profession, <strong>the</strong> CBC would be able to achieve<br />
total and simultaneous coverage and thus enable consensus to be<br />
reached as expeditiously as possible.<br />
5 The author also conceived a set of algorithms enabl<strong>in</strong>g a pars<strong>in</strong>g<br />
programme to automatically determ<strong>in</strong>e <strong>the</strong> subject of a given text.<br />
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