Meaning of Metamodel

1. Preface

Metamodel is a data structure in the dynamic model. At first, I thought that the meaning of metamodel would be self-explanatory, because both dynamic model and metamodel are very simple, but in the end, I found that it is very difficult to explain the meaning of metamodel clearly, which may involve concepts such as language, cognition and world.

We think that metamodel is meaningful, based on the view that "we can only discuss the world we know".
The world we "know" is also the world we perceive, and the structure of this world should be affected by cognitive methods.
When we think and communicate, we describe the world through language, so the "known world" should be affected by language. The "linguistic turn in philosophy" should also illustrate this point.
If language affects the structure of the world, and the dynamic model is a programming language, then we can consider whether the metamodel in it really has philosophical significance.

If the above can serve as the basis for discussing the significance of metamodels, then the coincidence between the properties of metamodels and "Laozi" and "God" can show that metamodels are really philosophically meaningful.

2. Coincidence of metamodels

There are some coincidences between the properties of metamodels and "Laozi" and "God", which should be used as evidence of the philosophical significance of metamodels.

2.1. Virtual world

As a programming method, dynamic models can be used to write complex systems. When the system is complex enough, it can be imagined as a virtual world.

2.2. The coincidence between metamodel and "Tao"

Laozi said: "The beginning of the nameless world is the mother of all things with names."

In a virtual world written using a dynamic model, any object can theoretically be edited directly or indirectly through a metamodel, and the metamodel is the first model in the virtual world. The basic function of the metamodel is naming, so there is a coincidence between the metamodel and Laozi's words.

Laozi said: "Tao gave birth to one, one gave birth to two, two gave birth to three, and three gave birth to all things."

In the dynamic model, the role of the metamodel is to edit the class model, and then the object model can be edited through the class model. All kinds of things in the system can be edited in this way. Since the metamodel can be the first model in the system, because the metamodel can be regarded as one, the class model can be regarded as two, and the object model can be regarded as three, everything is a system composed of various objects.

2.3. The coincidence of metamodel and "God"

In the virtual world written using the dynamic model:

The metamodel is the creator of the world
Because any object in the virtual world can be edited directly or indirectly through the metamodel.
The metamodel is its own parent and child
The metamodel can be edited by itself, so it is its own parent and child.

The properties of the above metamodel coincide with the properties of "God".

3. Demonstration

The properties of the metamodel are the key to this article. This property is reflected in the model editor. The properties of the metamodel are demonstrated through a video.

3.1. Any model can be edited directly or indirectly through the metamodel

The process of editing the model is to first use the metamodel to edit the class model, and then edit the object model through the class model. For example, use the metamodel to edit people (classes), and then edit Zhang San (objects) through people.

Because the class model can be created and modified at any time through the metamodel, so through this method, theoretically any model can be edited directly or indirectly through the metamodel.

In the video above, MetaDescriptor3 is a metamodel.

3.2. Metamodels can edit themselves

It should be noted that there can be multiple metamodels, and their basic properties are the same, that is, they can directly or indirectly edit any model, and they can also edit themselves.

In the following demonstration, we edited a simple metamodel MetaThing1 using the MetaDescriptor3 metamodel, and then used this simple metamodel to edit a metamodel MetaThing2 that is basically the same as it.

3.3. Name

Through the above video, we can find that the basic function of MetaThing1 and MetaThing2 is to name attributes and nodes. This corresponds exactly to Lao Tzu's "Name is the mother of all things".

4. The significance of metamodel

If the above view is valid, that is, the metamodel really has a certain philosophical significance, then this significance is related to artificial intelligence and the virtual world.

The significance of the metamodel is that due to the existence of the metamodel, any model in a dynamic model system can be explained by the system itself in theory. To explain a model, we can ask what it is, what attributes and behaviors it has, etc., which can be explained by its class model. And since any class model can be edited through the metamodel, that is, the metamodel is the class of any class model, which can be used to explain the class model, and the metamodel is its own class, so in theory any class model can be explained by the system itself·. In this way, any model in the system can be explained by the system itself.

The philosophical significance of the above properties is:

Except for cognition itself, which is innate, the knowledge of individuals can be acquired through acquired learning, and this knowledge can be explained by itself without relying on the outside.
The virtual world can also be complete, because everything in the virtual world can be explained by the system itself without relying on the outside.

The above is more meaningful to artificial intelligence and the virtual world, and also points out the application direction of dynamic models.