What is an Ontology?#
In the 1999 movie The Matrix, Keanu Reeves' character is having a rough day. He needs to master every martial art in just a few hours. But he's in luck. In the future, humans can download knowledge from computers directly into their brains! After a few swift clicks, Keanu turns towards the camera and dramatically says, "I know Kung Fu!".
Keanu was saved because someone had encoded all the world's knowledge about Kung Fu into a meaningful language that machines and humans can understand. That's an ontology.
In simple terms, an ontology is a structured representation of knowledge — a formal way to describe what exists in a domain and how those things relate to one another. It acts as a conceptual map that both people and computers can use to interpret meaning.
Ontologies are far from science fiction fantasy. They power search engines, recommendation systems, social media, and digital assistants. They are the hidden structure behind many modern information systems — linking data, defining relationships, and providing a shared understanding of concepts across disciplines.
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