Resolving "renowned programming pioneer" to "David Wheeler" may seem little enough like resolving w3.org to 18.29.0.27; the former process weighs human relationships, history, and judgment, while the latter mechanically queries a Domain Name System (DNS) database. Dig deeper, though, and every decision to name something turns out to be a trust decision. Names are resolvable only in the context of the community that agrees to that namespace.
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R. Khare (1999) studied this question.