202,282 research outputs found
Free will and luck
Full text linkThe problem of free will is a problem about control and luck. If causal determinism is true, then everything we do is ultimately a matter of luck, as it is if causal determinism is false. Either way we seem to lack free will of the kind needed for moral responsibility. In this thesis a case is built for a certain type of modest incompatibilist view on free will. It is argued that it makes no difference in terms of control whether determinism or indeterminism obtains. What matters is that we have a certain kind of ownership over what we do. Causal determinism rules this out, but indeterminism does not. This has the upshot that not only does free will turn out to be compatible with luck, exposure to a certain kind of luck is actually required, for unless we are exposed to this kind of luck our actions will not be truly ours. By providing luck with a positive role this thesis invites a re-evaluation of the reasons causal determinism destroys free will, and a re-evaluation of our attitudes towards luck. In short this thesis challenges the anti-luckism that lies behind the problem of free will
Unifying Agent Systems
Full text linkWhilst there has been an explosion of interest in multi-agent systems, there are still many problems that may have a potentially deleterious impact on the progress of the area. These prob- lems have arisen primarily through the lack of a common structure and language for understanding multi-agent systems, and with which to organise and pursue research in this area. In response to this, previous work has been concerned with developing a computational formal framework for agency and autonomy which, we argue, provides an environment in which to develop, evaluate, and compare systems and theories of multi-agent systems. In this paper we go some way towards justifying these claims by reviewing the framework and showing what we can achieve within it by developing models of agent dimensions, categorising key inter-agent relationships and by ap- plying it to evaluate existing multi-agent systems in a coherent computational model. We outline the benefits of specifying each of the systems within the framework and consider how it allows us to unify different systems and approaches in general
Agents in Bioinformatics
No full textThe scope of the Technical Forum Group (TFG) on Agents in Bioinformatics (BIOAGENTS) was to inspire collaboration between the agent and bioinformatics communities with the aim of creating an opportunity to propose a different (agent-based) approach to the development of computational frameworks both for data analysis in bioinformatics and for system modelling in computational biology. During the day, the participants examined the future of research on agents in bioinformatics primarily through 12 invited talks selected to cover the most relevant topics. From the discussions, it became clear that there are many perspectives to the field, ranging from bio-conceptual languages for agent-based simulation, to the definition of bio-ontology-based declarative languages for use by information agents, and to the use of Grid agents, each of which requires further exploration. The interactions between participants encouraged the development of applications that describe a way of creating agent-based simulation models of biological systems, starting from an hypothesis and inferring new knowledge (or relations) by mining and analysing the huge amount of public biological data. In this report we summarise and reflect on the presentations and discussions
The problem of moral luck: An argument against its epistemic reduction
Full text linkWhom I call 'epistemic reductionists' in this article are critics of the notion of 'moral luck' that maintain that all supposed cases of moral luck are illusory; they are in fact cases of what I describe as a special form of epistemic luck, the only difference lying in what we get to know about someone, rather than in what (s)he deserves in terms of praise or blame. I argue that epistemic reductionists are mistaken. They implausibly separate judgements of character from judgements concerning acts, and they assume a conception of character that is untenable both from a common sense perspective and with a view to findings from social psychology. I use especially the example of Scobie, the protagonist of Graham Greene's novel The Heart of the Matter, to show that moral luck is real-that there are cases of moral luck that cannot be reduced to epistemic luck. The reality of moral luck, in this example at least, lies in its impact on character and personal and moral identity. © 2009 Springer Science Media B.V
A Conceptual Framework for Agent Definition and Development
Full text linkThe use of agents of many different kinds in a variety of fields of computer science and
artificial intelligence is increasing rapidly and is due, in part, to their wide applicability. The
richness of the agent metaphor that leads to many different uses of the term is, however, both a
strength and a weakness: its strength lies in the fact that it can be applied in very many different
ways in many situations for different purposes; the weakness is that the term agent is now used so
frequently that there is no commonly accepted notion of what it is that constitutes an agent. This
paper addresses this issue by applying formal methods to provide a defining framework for agent
systems. The Z specification language is used to provide an accessible and unified formal account
of agent systems, allowing us to escape from the terminological chaos that surrounds agents. In
particular, the framework precisely and unambiguously provides meanings for common concepts
and terms, enables alternative models of particular classes of system to be described within it, and
provides a foundation for subsequent development of increasingly more refined concepts
From SMART to agent systems development
Full text linkIn order for agent-oriented software engineering to prove effective it must use principled notions of agents and enabling specification and reasoning, while still considering routes to practical implementation. This paper deals with the issue of individual agent specification and construction, departing from the conceptual basis provided by the SMART agent framework. SMART offers a descriptive specification of an agent architecture but omits consideration of issues relating to construction and control. In response, we introduce two new views to complement SMART: a behavioural specification and a structural specification which, together, determine the components that make up an agent, and how they operate. In this way, we move from abstract agent system specification to practical implementation. These three aspects are combined to create an agent construction model, actSMART, which is then used to define the AgentSpeak(L) architecture in order to illustrate the application of actSMART
Continuing Research in Multi-Agent Systems
No full textThe 1998 Workshop of the UK Special Interest Group on Multi-Agent Systems was held in Manchester in December, chaired and organised by Michael Fisher of Manchester Metropolitan University, continuing the series of focussed and constructive meetings in this field. After two very successful workshops on the Foundations of Multi-Agent Systems at the University of Warwick in 1996 (Luck, 1997; Doran et al., 1997; d'Inverno et al., 1997; Fisher et al., 1997) and 1997 (Luck et al., 1998; Aylett et al., 1998; Binmore et al., 1998), the scope was broadened for 1998 to a wider range of issues concerning all aspects of multi-agent systems
Beliefs around luck : confirming the empirical conceptualization of beliefs around luck and the development of the Darke and Freedman beliefs around luck scale
No full textThe current study developed a multi-dimensional measure of beliefs around luck. Two studies introduced the Darke and Freedman beliefs around luck scale where the scale showed a consistent 4 component model (beliefs in luck, rejection of luck, being lucky, and being unlucky) across two samples (n = 250; n = 145). The scales also show adequate reliability statistics and validity by ways of comparison with other measures of beliefs around luck, peer and family ratings and expected associations with measures of personality, individual difference and well-being variables
Balancing Conflict and Cost in the Selection of Negotiation Opponents
No full textWithin the context of agent-to-agent purchase negotiations, a problem that has received little attention is that of identifying negotiation opponents in situations where the consequences of conflict and the ability to access resources dynamically vary. Such dynamism poses a number of problems that make it difficult to automate the identification of appropriate opponents. To that end, this paper describes a motivation-based opponent selection mechanism used by a buyer-agent to evaluate and select between an already identified set of seller-agents. Sellers are evaluated in terms of the amount of conflict they are expected to bring to a negotiation and the expected amount of cost a negotiation with them will entail. The mechanism allows trade-offs to be made between conflict and cost minimisation, and experimental results show the effectiveness of the approach
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