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LIRa Session: Line van den Berg

Speaker: Line van den Berg

Date and Time: Thursday, March 25th 2021, 16:30-18:00, Amsterdam time.

Venue: online.

Title: Multi-Agent Knowledge Evolution in Dynamic Epistemic Logic.

Abstract. Agents may use their own, distinct vocabularies to reason and talk about the world, structured into knowledge representations, also called ontologies. These ontologies may be subjected to change: agents can model the world differently or learn new terms from other agents. Experimental cultural evolution offers a framework to study the mechanisms of their knowledge evolution experimentally. It has been applied to the evolution of alignments between ontologies: agents play games using alignments between their ontologies and whenever a failure in communication is reached they apply an adaptation operator – such agents will be called adaptive.

In this talk, I will present a modeling of these adaptive agents in Dynamic Epistemic Logic (DEL) by (a) encoding the ontologies, (b) translating agents ontologies and alignment into knowledge and belief, (c) translating adaptation operators as announcements and conservative upgrades – these agents are called logical. The modeling enables to compare the properties of adaptive and logical agents. I will show that all but one adaptation operator are are correct, they are incomplete and partially redundant.

There is a difference between the adaptive agents and logical agents: vocabulary awareness. In DEL, agents share all propositions, preventing agents to use distinct knowledge representations or to adapt them. As a solution, I introduce agent awareness using partial valuations and weakly reflexive relations. I show how to define the dynamics of awareness and show how knowledge, belief and truth are preserved through this operation. Finally, I will explain how awareness is one step to bridge the gap between adaptive and logical agents and discuss future perspectives.

Please click here for the recording of the talk.