We shall describe a simulation experiment aimed at exploring the role of norms in the
control of ... more We shall describe a simulation experiment aimed at exploring the role of norms in the control of aggression among a population of agents. In this experiment, agents are allowed little, if any, autonomy: they perform some elementary routines for surviving in a situation of food scarcity. A utilitarian strategy will be compared with a normative one and the differences will be observed and measured with some indicators (rate of aggression, average strength, and its variance).
In this work we present a simulation study drawn upon a famous ethological example: food-sharing ... more In this work we present a simulation study drawn upon a famous ethological example: food-sharing habit of vampire bats in Central America. A norm of reciprocity is introduced when agents are expected to exhibit a cooperative behavior under serious environmental strictures (infrequent but lethal food scarcity). We compare different agents' architectures (with different levels of cognitive complexity) in the evolution of foodsharing habit and we analyse their performances against the presence of cheaters in the population.
In this work, we present a simulation study drawn upon a famous ethological example: food-sharing... more In this work, we present a simulation study drawn upon a famous ethological example: food-sharing habit of vampire bats in Central America. A norm of reciprocity is introduced when agents are expected to exhibit a cooperative behavior under serious environmental strictures (infrequent but lethal food scarcity). We compare different agents' architectures (with different levels of cognitive complexity) in the evolution of food-sharing habit and we analyze their performances against the presence of cheaters in the population.
* Abstract This paper introduces Repage, a computational system that adopts a cognitive theory of... more * Abstract This paper introduces Repage, a computational system that adopts a cognitive theory of reputation. We propose a fundamental difference between image and reputation, which suggests a way out from the paradox of sociality, ie the trade-off between agents' autonomy and their need to adapt to social environment. On one hand, agents are autonomous if they select partners based on their social evaluations (images). On the other, they need to update evaluations by taking into account others'.
Although the science of organisations has a prestigious tradition, a number of questions have rec... more Although the science of organisations has a prestigious tradition, a number of questions have received only partial (or not completely satisfactory) answers. For example, definitions of organisations abound, but nobody would find easy to answer the question of what organisations are and what constitutes their properties, activities, constraints and behaviours.
* Abstract This paper is intended to analyse the concepts involved in the phenomena of social mon... more * Abstract This paper is intended to analyse the concepts involved in the phenomena of social monitoring and norm-based social influence for systems of normative agents. These are here defined as deliberative agents, representing norms and deciding upon them. Normative agents can use the norms to evaluate others' behaviours and, possibly, convince them to comply with norms. Normative agents contribute to the social dynamics of norms, and more specifically, of norm-based social control and influence.
Peer review lies at the core of current scientific research. It is composed of a set of social no... more Peer review lies at the core of current scientific research. It is composed of a set of social norms, practices and processes that connect the abstract scientific method with the society of people that apply the method. As a social construct, peer review should be understood by building theory-informed models and comparing them with data collection. Both these activities are evolving in the era of automated computation and communication: new modeling tools and large bodies of data become available to the interested scholar.
In this paper, a model of norms as cognitive objects is applied to establish connections between ... more In this paper, a model of norms as cognitive objects is applied to establish connections between social conventions and prescriptions. Relevant literature on this issue, especially found in AI and the social sciences, will be shown to suffer from a dychotomic view: a conventionalistic view proposed by rationality and AI scientists; and a prescriptive view proposed by some philosophers of law (Kelsen 1934/1979, Hart 1961, Ross, 1958).
Intelligent agents are one of the most important developments in computer science of the past dec... more Intelligent agents are one of the most important developments in computer science of the past decade. Agents are of interest in many important application areas, ranging from human-computer interaction to industrial process control. The ATAL workshop series aims to bring together researchers interested in the core/micro aspects of agent technology.
Conventions are social means for the sake of common ends. A common end needs not be a desire we p... more Conventions are social means for the sake of common ends. A common end needs not be a desire we pursue together (ie our joint desire to meet each other). A set of desires that are jointly corealizable may suffice (ie our self-regarding desires to avoid collisions in traffic): coincidence of interests is, at least, agreement in desires1. Conventions describe a way to behave in recurrent situations, which is sufficient to obtain something we all want but which is at risk because of our reciprocal interference.
The Agent Based Social Simulation (ABSS) Special Interest Group (SIG) has been formally recognize... more The Agent Based Social Simulation (ABSS) Special Interest Group (SIG) has been formally recognized by the AgentLink management committee. AgentLink is Europe's network of excellence for agent-based computing, funded by the ESPRIT programme. As with all AgentLink SIGs, it has a budget to fund attendance at SIG meetings and to support the development of collaborative European projects.
* Abstract In this work simulation-based and analytical results on the emergence steady states in... more * Abstract In this work simulation-based and analytical results on the emergence steady states in traffic-like interactions are presented and discussed. The objective of the paper is twofold: i) investigating the role of social conventions in coordination problem situations, and more specifically in congestion games; ii) comparing simulation-based and analytical results to figure out what these methodologies can tell us on the subject matter.
Abstract: The study of opinions, their formation and change, is one of the defining topics addres... more Abstract: The study of opinions, their formation and change, is one of the defining topics addressed by social psychology, but in recent years other disciplines, as computer science and complexity, have addressed this challenge. Despite the flourishing of different models and theories in both fields, several key questions still remain unanswered.
Abstract. This paper describes the fundamental concepts of a social reasoning mechanism, designed... more Abstract. This paper describes the fundamental concepts of a social reasoning mechanism, designed to be part of an agent's internal model, in a multi-agent systems (MAS) context. It enables an agent to reason about the others using information about their goals, actions, resources and plans. Every agent stores this information in a data structure called external description. We have formally defined and implemented the concepts of external description, dependence relation, and dependence network.
Abstract The advantages of agent-based modeling for a general theory of intelligence at the indiv... more Abstract The advantages of agent-based modeling for a general theory of intelligence at the individual and social level are emphasized over other existing approaches mainly relying on rationality theories.
Abstract The question of the aggregation and disaggregation of political actors is essential for ... more Abstract The question of the aggregation and disaggregation of political actors is essential for the understanding of the future of global politics, both in terms of international security affairs and international political economy. A model based upon tribute is presented to show how new political actors can emerge from an aggregation of smaller political actors. The tribute model provides an existence proof that it is possible to use simple local rules to generate higher levels of organization from elementary actors.
Abstract. Law-and policy-makers face two pressing, and inter-related challenges. The first is und... more Abstract. Law-and policy-makers face two pressing, and inter-related challenges. The first is understanding the interaction of new laws, and their interpretations according to different legal doctrines, within different legal systems operating at global, national or regional levels. The second is understanding the impact of new policies on the behaviour of the population affected by them, with respect to pre-existing social networks regulated by social, cultural and (il) legal sets of norms.
Abstract. Peer review lies at the core of current scientific research. It is composed of a set of... more Abstract. Peer review lies at the core of current scientific research. It is composed of a set of social norms, practices and processes that connect the abstract scientific method with the society of people that apply the method. As a social construct, peer review should be understood by building theory-informed models and comparing them with data collection. Both these activities are evolving in the era of automated computation and communication: new modeling tools and large bodies of data become available to the interested studious.
We shall describe a simulation experiment aimed at exploring the role of norms in the
control of ... more We shall describe a simulation experiment aimed at exploring the role of norms in the control of aggression among a population of agents. In this experiment, agents are allowed little, if any, autonomy: they perform some elementary routines for surviving in a situation of food scarcity. A utilitarian strategy will be compared with a normative one and the differences will be observed and measured with some indicators (rate of aggression, average strength, and its variance).
In this work we present a simulation study drawn upon a famous ethological example: food-sharing ... more In this work we present a simulation study drawn upon a famous ethological example: food-sharing habit of vampire bats in Central America. A norm of reciprocity is introduced when agents are expected to exhibit a cooperative behavior under serious environmental strictures (infrequent but lethal food scarcity). We compare different agents' architectures (with different levels of cognitive complexity) in the evolution of foodsharing habit and we analyse their performances against the presence of cheaters in the population.
In this work, we present a simulation study drawn upon a famous ethological example: food-sharing... more In this work, we present a simulation study drawn upon a famous ethological example: food-sharing habit of vampire bats in Central America. A norm of reciprocity is introduced when agents are expected to exhibit a cooperative behavior under serious environmental strictures (infrequent but lethal food scarcity). We compare different agents' architectures (with different levels of cognitive complexity) in the evolution of food-sharing habit and we analyze their performances against the presence of cheaters in the population.
* Abstract This paper introduces Repage, a computational system that adopts a cognitive theory of... more * Abstract This paper introduces Repage, a computational system that adopts a cognitive theory of reputation. We propose a fundamental difference between image and reputation, which suggests a way out from the paradox of sociality, ie the trade-off between agents' autonomy and their need to adapt to social environment. On one hand, agents are autonomous if they select partners based on their social evaluations (images). On the other, they need to update evaluations by taking into account others'.
Although the science of organisations has a prestigious tradition, a number of questions have rec... more Although the science of organisations has a prestigious tradition, a number of questions have received only partial (or not completely satisfactory) answers. For example, definitions of organisations abound, but nobody would find easy to answer the question of what organisations are and what constitutes their properties, activities, constraints and behaviours.
* Abstract This paper is intended to analyse the concepts involved in the phenomena of social mon... more * Abstract This paper is intended to analyse the concepts involved in the phenomena of social monitoring and norm-based social influence for systems of normative agents. These are here defined as deliberative agents, representing norms and deciding upon them. Normative agents can use the norms to evaluate others' behaviours and, possibly, convince them to comply with norms. Normative agents contribute to the social dynamics of norms, and more specifically, of norm-based social control and influence.
Peer review lies at the core of current scientific research. It is composed of a set of social no... more Peer review lies at the core of current scientific research. It is composed of a set of social norms, practices and processes that connect the abstract scientific method with the society of people that apply the method. As a social construct, peer review should be understood by building theory-informed models and comparing them with data collection. Both these activities are evolving in the era of automated computation and communication: new modeling tools and large bodies of data become available to the interested scholar.
In this paper, a model of norms as cognitive objects is applied to establish connections between ... more In this paper, a model of norms as cognitive objects is applied to establish connections between social conventions and prescriptions. Relevant literature on this issue, especially found in AI and the social sciences, will be shown to suffer from a dychotomic view: a conventionalistic view proposed by rationality and AI scientists; and a prescriptive view proposed by some philosophers of law (Kelsen 1934/1979, Hart 1961, Ross, 1958).
Intelligent agents are one of the most important developments in computer science of the past dec... more Intelligent agents are one of the most important developments in computer science of the past decade. Agents are of interest in many important application areas, ranging from human-computer interaction to industrial process control. The ATAL workshop series aims to bring together researchers interested in the core/micro aspects of agent technology.
Conventions are social means for the sake of common ends. A common end needs not be a desire we p... more Conventions are social means for the sake of common ends. A common end needs not be a desire we pursue together (ie our joint desire to meet each other). A set of desires that are jointly corealizable may suffice (ie our self-regarding desires to avoid collisions in traffic): coincidence of interests is, at least, agreement in desires1. Conventions describe a way to behave in recurrent situations, which is sufficient to obtain something we all want but which is at risk because of our reciprocal interference.
The Agent Based Social Simulation (ABSS) Special Interest Group (SIG) has been formally recognize... more The Agent Based Social Simulation (ABSS) Special Interest Group (SIG) has been formally recognized by the AgentLink management committee. AgentLink is Europe's network of excellence for agent-based computing, funded by the ESPRIT programme. As with all AgentLink SIGs, it has a budget to fund attendance at SIG meetings and to support the development of collaborative European projects.
* Abstract In this work simulation-based and analytical results on the emergence steady states in... more * Abstract In this work simulation-based and analytical results on the emergence steady states in traffic-like interactions are presented and discussed. The objective of the paper is twofold: i) investigating the role of social conventions in coordination problem situations, and more specifically in congestion games; ii) comparing simulation-based and analytical results to figure out what these methodologies can tell us on the subject matter.
Abstract: The study of opinions, their formation and change, is one of the defining topics addres... more Abstract: The study of opinions, their formation and change, is one of the defining topics addressed by social psychology, but in recent years other disciplines, as computer science and complexity, have addressed this challenge. Despite the flourishing of different models and theories in both fields, several key questions still remain unanswered.
Abstract. This paper describes the fundamental concepts of a social reasoning mechanism, designed... more Abstract. This paper describes the fundamental concepts of a social reasoning mechanism, designed to be part of an agent's internal model, in a multi-agent systems (MAS) context. It enables an agent to reason about the others using information about their goals, actions, resources and plans. Every agent stores this information in a data structure called external description. We have formally defined and implemented the concepts of external description, dependence relation, and dependence network.
Abstract The advantages of agent-based modeling for a general theory of intelligence at the indiv... more Abstract The advantages of agent-based modeling for a general theory of intelligence at the individual and social level are emphasized over other existing approaches mainly relying on rationality theories.
Abstract The question of the aggregation and disaggregation of political actors is essential for ... more Abstract The question of the aggregation and disaggregation of political actors is essential for the understanding of the future of global politics, both in terms of international security affairs and international political economy. A model based upon tribute is presented to show how new political actors can emerge from an aggregation of smaller political actors. The tribute model provides an existence proof that it is possible to use simple local rules to generate higher levels of organization from elementary actors.
Abstract. Law-and policy-makers face two pressing, and inter-related challenges. The first is und... more Abstract. Law-and policy-makers face two pressing, and inter-related challenges. The first is understanding the interaction of new laws, and their interpretations according to different legal doctrines, within different legal systems operating at global, national or regional levels. The second is understanding the impact of new policies on the behaviour of the population affected by them, with respect to pre-existing social networks regulated by social, cultural and (il) legal sets of norms.
Abstract. Peer review lies at the core of current scientific research. It is composed of a set of... more Abstract. Peer review lies at the core of current scientific research. It is composed of a set of social norms, practices and processes that connect the abstract scientific method with the society of people that apply the method. As a social construct, peer review should be understood by building theory-informed models and comparing them with data collection. Both these activities are evolving in the era of automated computation and communication: new modeling tools and large bodies of data become available to the interested studious.
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control of aggression among a population of agents. In this experiment, agents are
allowed little, if any, autonomy: they perform some elementary routines for surviving in a
situation of food scarcity. A utilitarian strategy will be compared with a normative one
and the differences will be observed and measured with some indicators (rate of
aggression, average strength, and its variance).
control of aggression among a population of agents. In this experiment, agents are
allowed little, if any, autonomy: they perform some elementary routines for surviving in a
situation of food scarcity. A utilitarian strategy will be compared with a normative one
and the differences will be observed and measured with some indicators (rate of
aggression, average strength, and its variance).