In contrast to Pirsig's notion in the ZenAndTheArtOfMotorcycleMaintenance of TheMetaphysicsOfQuality, the '''epistemics of quantity''' is the scientific structure of knowledge. As knowledge must begin with the atomic type, the smallest ''quantity'' is its basis:  for people this is the "sensata" (or '''Phonon'''), but for the hoped-for DataEcosystem, it is the Bit.

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See UnifiedDataModel.
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I had not come across the word ''epistemics'' so I looked it up. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemics

''Epistemics is a term coined in 1969 by Edinburgh University with the foundation of its School of Epistemics.''

''Epistemics is to be distinguished from epistemology in that this is the philosophical theory of knowledge, whereas epistemics signifies the scientific study of knowledge. Epistemics is also compared to Cognitive Science.''

''In the mid-1980s, the School of Epistemics was renamed as The Centre for Cognitive Science (CCS). In 1998, CCS was incorporated into the University of Edinburgh's School of Informatics.''

-- JohnFletcher

''I had rather thought that I invented the term, but I am not displeased that it is found elsewhere.'' --MarkJanssen