In both the multi-agent systems literature in general and the social
simulation literature in particular, we find a large number of papers
representing agents by some formalism -- a logic or a mathematical
representation. The usual procedure is to use the formalism to capture
some intuition about human behaviour and then to derive some results
either analytically or computationally. In effect, the authors of these
papers start with their chosen agent representation and set it in a
problem space that enables them to apply those representations to
achieve some set of results.
Sometimes explicitly, but more usually implicitly, the reported analyses
of these representations, problem spaces and results are intended to be
steps towards a more powerful and general implementation of agents that
will function effectively in useful problem spaces such as in
information filtering on large databases or the Web, in robotics, in
planning or in modelling social and economic institutions.
There is another distinct strand in the multi-agent systems literature
in which a usefully-scaled problem is identified and the authors develop
ad hoc techniques to reason about those problems either to devise useful
software or to simulate real social issues.
Do these two strands in the literature ever meet? Are there cases where
(say) BDI or deontic or other logics or finite cellular automata have
been used to represent agents that perform some function(s) on a useful
scale?
I ask these question because I see as a key reason for the scientific
failure of economics the acceptance by economists of virtually every
stripe the need to restrict the problem spaces they specify to the
limited domains of application of their particular techniques of
analysis and associated agent representations. Applied policy analyses
typically use the semantics of the theory but there is no direct link
between the applications and the theory.
In the absense of an intertwining ot these two strands, I see this
scientific failure as a danger for the multiagent systems community in
general and the social simulation community in particular.
regards to all
scott
--
Scott Moss
Director
Centre for Policy Modelling
Manchester Metropolitan University
Aytoun Building
Manchester M1 3GH
UNITED KINGDOM
telephone: +44 (0)161 247 3886
fax: +44 (0)161 247 6802
http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/~scott
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