The concept of autonomy in distributed computation and multi-agent systems

The concept of autonomy is a central concept in distributed computational systems and in multi-agent systems in particular. With diverse implications in philosophy and despite frequent use in social sciences and the theory of computation, autonomy remains somewhat a vague notion. Most researchers do not discuss the details of this concept, but rather assume a general, common-sense understanding of autonomy in the context of computational multi-agent systems. We will review the existing definitions and formalisms related to the notion of autonomy. We re-introduce two concepts: relative autonomy and absolute autonomy. We argue that even though the concept of absolute autonomy does not make sense in computational settings, it is useful if treated as an assumed property of computational units. For example, the concept of autonomous agents may facilitate more flexible and robust abstract architectures. We adopt and discuss a new formalism based on results from the study of massively parallel multi-agent systems in the context of evolvable virtual machines. We also present the architecture for building such architectures based on our multi-agent system KEA, where we use the extended notion of dynamic linking. We augment our work with theoretical results from cham algebra for concurrent and asynchronous information processing systems. We argue that for open distributed systems, entities must be connected by multiple computational dependencies and a system as a whole must be subjected to influence from external sources. However, the exact linkages are not directly known to the computational entities themselves. This provides a useful notion and the necessary means to establish an relative autonomy in such systems.Unpublished[Banâtre et al., 1988] Banâtre, J., Coutant, A., and Le Metayer, D. (1988). A parallel machine for multiset transformation and its programming style. Future Generation Computer Systems, 4(2):133–144. [Berry and Boudol, 1989] Berry, G. and Boudol, G. (1989). The chemical abstract machine. ACM Press, NY, USA. [Bringsjord and Zenzen, 2003] Bringsjord, S. and Zenzen, M. (2003). Superminds: People Harness Hypercomputation, and More. Studies in Cognitive Systems Volume 29. Kluwer Academic Publishers. Cen BF 311 B 4867. [Carabelea et al., 2003] Carabelea, C., Boissier, O., and Florea, A. (2003). Autonomy in multi-agent systems: A classification attempt. In [Nickles et al., 2004], pages 103–113. [Castelfranchi, 1995] Castelfranchi, C. (1995). Guarantees for autonomy in cognitive agent architecture. In Proceedings of the workshop on agent theories, architectures, and languages, ATAL’94, volume 890 of LNAI, pages 56–70. Springer-Verlag, NY, USA. [Franklin and Graesser, 1996] Franklin, S. and Graesser, A. (1996). Is it an Agent, or just a Program?: A Taxonomy for Autonomous Agents. Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Agent Theories, Architectures, and Languages, pages 21–36. [Gouaich, 2003] Gouaich, A. (2003). Requirements for achieving software agents autonomy and defining their responsibility. In [Nickles et al., 2004], pages 128–139. [Gould and Vrba, 1982] Gould, S. J. and Vrba, E. (1982). Exaptation – a missing term in the science of form. Paleobiology, 8:4–15. [Haken, 1983] Haken, H. (1983). Synergetics, An Introduction: Nonequilibrium Phase Transitions and Self-Organization in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 3rd revised and enlarged edition edition. [Hopcroft and Ullman, 1979] Hopcroft, J. E. and Ullman, J. D. (1979). Introduction to automata theory, languages, and computation. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, USA. [Levin, 1973] Levin, L. A. (1973). Universal sequential search problems. Problems of Information Transmission, 9(3):265–266. [Luck and d’Inverno, 1995] Luck, M. and d’Inverno, M. (1995). A formal framework fo agency and autonomy. In Proceedings of Frist International Conference On Multi-Agent Systems (ICMAS), pages 254–260. [Lynch and Tuttle, 1989] Lynch, N. and Tuttle, M. R. (1989). An introduction to input/output automata. CWI Quarterly, 2(3):219–246. [Margulis, 1970] Margulis, L. (1970). Origin of Eukaryotic Cells. University Press, New Haven. [Margulis, 1981] Margulis, L. (1981). Symbiosis in Cell Evolution. Freeman & Co., San Francisco. [Milner, 1989] Milner, R. (1989). Communication and concurrency. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA. [Nickles et al., 2004] Nickles, M., Rovatsos, M., and Weiß, G., editors (2004). Agents and Computational Autonomy - Potential, Risks, and Solutions - Postproceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Computational Autonomy - Potential, Risks, Solutions (AUTONOMY 2003), held at the 2nd International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-agent Systems (AAMAS 2003), July 14, 2003, Melbourne, Australia, volume 2969 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. [Nicola and Hennessy, 1987] Nicola, R. D. and Hennessy, M. (1987). CCS without tau’s. Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Theory and Practice of Software Development, Volume 1: Advanced Seminar on Foundations of Innovative Software Development I and Colloquium on Trees in Algebra and Programming, pages 138–152. [Nowostawski et al., 2005a] Nowostawski, M., Epiney, L., and Purvis, M. (2005a). Self-Adaptation and Dynamic Environment Experiments with Evolvable Virtual Machines. In S.Brueckner, Serugendo, G. M., D.Hales, and F.Zambonelli, editors, Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Engineering Self-Organizing Applications (ESOA 2005), pages 46–60. Springer Verlag. [Nowostawski et al., 2005b] Nowostawski, M., Epiney, L., and Purvis, M. (2005b). Self-adaptation and dynamic environment experiments with evolvable virtual machines. In Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Engineering Self-Organizing Applications (ESOA 2005), pages 46–60, Utrech, The Netherlands. Fourth International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents & Multi Agent Systems. [Nowostawski et al., 2001] Nowostawski, M., Purvis, M., and Cranefield, S. (2001). Kea – multi-level agent infrastructure. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop of Central and Eastern Europe on Multi-Agent Systems (CEEMAS 2001), pages 355–362, Krak ́ow, Poland. Department of Computer Science, University of Mining and Metallurgy. [Nowostawski et al., 2004] Nowostawski, M., Purvis, M., and Cranefield, S. (2004). An architecture for self-organising evolvable virtual machines. In Brueckner, S., Serugendo, G. D. M., Karageorgos, A., and Nagpal, R., editors, Engineering Self Organising Sytems: Methodologies and Applications, number 3464 in Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence. Springer Verlag. [Ray, 1991] Ray, T. S. (1991). An approach to the synthesis of life. In Langton, C., Taylor, C., Farmer, J. D., and Rasmussen, S., editors, Artificial Life II, volume XI of Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity, pages 371–408. Addison-Wesley, Redwood City, CA. [Schmidhuber, 2004] Schmidhuber, J. (2004). Optimal ordered problem solver. Machine Learning, 54:211–254. [Turing, 6 7] Turing, A. M. (1936–7). On computable numbers with an application to the entscheidungsproblem. Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society, 42(2):230–265. also 43, pp. 544-546, 1937. [Weigand and Dignum, 2003] Weigand, H. and Dignum, V. (2003). I am autonomous, you are autonomous. In [Nickles et al., 2004], pages 227–236. [Witkowski and Stathis, 2003] Witkowski, M. and Stathis, K. (2003). A dialectic architecture for computational autonomy. In [Nickles et al., 2004], pages 261–274

The concept of autonomy in distributed computation and multi-agent systems

The concept of autonomy is a central concept in distributed computational systems and in multi-agent systems in particular. With diverse implications in philosophy and despite frequent use in social sciences and the theory of computation, autonomy remains somewhat a vague notion. Most researchers do not discuss the details of this concept, but rather assume a general, common-sense understanding of autonomy in the context of computational multi-agent systems. We will review the existing definitions and formalisms related to the notion of autonomy. We re-introduce two concepts: relative autonomy and absolute autonomy. We argue that even though the concept of absolute autonomy does not make sense in computational settings, it is useful if treated as an assumed property of computational units. For example, the concept of autonomous agents may facilitate more flexible and robust abstract architectures. We adopt and discuss a new formalism based on results from the study of massively parallel multi-agent systems in the context of evolvable virtual machines. We also present the architecture for building such architectures based on our multi-agent system KEA, where we use the extended notion of dynamic linking. We augment our work with theoretical results from cham algebra for concurrent and asynchronous information processing systems. We argue that for open distributed systems, entities must be connected by multiple computational dependencies and a system as a whole must be subjected to influence from external sources. However, the exact linkages are not directly known to the computational entities themselves. This provides a useful notion and the necessary means to establish an relative autonomy in such systems.Unpublished[Banâtre et al., 1988] Banâtre, J., Coutant, A., and Le Metayer, D. (1988). A parallel machine for multiset transformation and its programming style. Future Generation Computer Systems, 4(2):133–144. [Berry and Boudol, 1989] Berry, G. and Boudol, G. (1989). The chemical abstract machine. ACM Press, NY, USA. [Bringsjord and Zenzen, 2003] Bringsjord, S. and Zenzen, M. (2003). Superminds: People Harness Hypercomputation, and More. Studies in Cognitive Systems Volume 29. Kluwer Academic Publishers. Cen BF 311 B 4867. [Carabelea et al., 2003] Carabelea, C., Boissier, O., and Florea, A. (2003). Autonomy in multi-agent systems: A classification attempt. In [Nickles et al., 2004], pages 103–113. [Castelfranchi, 1995] Castelfranchi, C. (1995). Guarantees for autonomy in cognitive agent architecture. In Proceedings of the workshop on agent theories, architectures, and languages, ATAL’94, volume 890 of LNAI, pages 56–70. Springer-Verlag, NY, USA. [Franklin and Graesser, 1996] Franklin, S. and Graesser, A. (1996). Is it an Agent, or just a Program?: A Taxonomy for Autonomous Agents. Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Agent Theories, Architectures, and Languages, pages 21–36. [Gouaich, 2003] Gouaich, A. (2003). Requirements for achieving software agents autonomy and defining their responsibility. In [Nickles et al., 2004], pages 128–139. [Gould and Vrba, 1982] Gould, S. J. and Vrba, E. (1982). Exaptation – a missing term in the science of form. Paleobiology, 8:4–15. [Haken, 1983] Haken, H. (1983). Synergetics, An Introduction: Nonequilibrium Phase Transitions and Self-Organization in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 3rd revised and enlarged edition edition. [Hopcroft and Ullman, 1979] Hopcroft, J. E. and Ullman, J. D. (1979). Introduction to automata theory, languages, and computation. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, USA. [Levin, 1973] Levin, L. A. (1973). Universal sequential search problems. Problems of Information Transmission, 9(3):265–266. [Luck and d’Inverno, 1995] Luck, M. and d’Inverno, M. (1995). A formal framework fo agency and autonomy. In Proceedings of Frist International Conference On Multi-Agent Systems (ICMAS), pages 254–260. [Lynch and Tuttle, 1989] Lynch, N. and Tuttle, M. R. (1989). An introduction to input/output automata. CWI Quarterly, 2(3):219–246. [Margulis, 1970] Margulis, L. (1970). Origin of Eukaryotic Cells. University Press, New Haven. [Margulis, 1981] Margulis, L. (1981). Symbiosis in Cell Evolution. Freeman & Co., San Francisco. [Milner, 1989] Milner, R. (1989). Communication and concurrency. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA. [Nickles et al., 2004] Nickles, M., Rovatsos, M., and Weiß, G., editors (2004). Agents and Computational Autonomy - Potential, Risks, and Solutions - Postproceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Computational Autonomy - Potential, Risks, Solutions (AUTONOMY 2003), held at the 2nd International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-agent Systems (AAMAS 2003), July 14, 2003, Melbourne, Australia, volume 2969 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. [Nicola and Hennessy, 1987] Nicola, R. D. and Hennessy, M. (1987). CCS without tau’s. Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Theory and Practice of Software Development, Volume 1: Advanced Seminar on Foundations of Innovative Software Development I and Colloquium on Trees in Algebra and Programming, pages 138–152. [Nowostawski et al., 2005a] Nowostawski, M., Epiney, L., and Purvis, M. (2005a). Self-Adaptation and Dynamic Environment Experiments with Evolvable Virtual Machines. In S.Brueckner, Serugendo, G. M., D.Hales, and F.Zambonelli, editors, Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Engineering Self-Organizing Applications (ESOA 2005), pages 46–60. Springer Verlag. [Nowostawski et al., 2005b] Nowostawski, M., Epiney, L., and Purvis, M. (2005b). Self-adaptation and dynamic environment experiments with evolvable virtual machines. In Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Engineering Self-Organizing Applications (ESOA 2005), pages 46–60, Utrech, The Netherlands. Fourth International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents & Multi Agent Systems. [Nowostawski et al., 2001] Nowostawski, M., Purvis, M., and Cranefield, S. (2001). Kea – multi-level agent infrastructure. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop of Central and Eastern Europe on Multi-Agent Systems (CEEMAS 2001), pages 355–362, Krak ́ow, Poland. Department of Computer Science, University of Mining and Metallurgy. [Nowostawski et al., 2004] Nowostawski, M., Purvis, M., and Cranefield, S. (2004). An architecture for self-organising evolvable virtual machines. In Brueckner, S., Serugendo, G. D. M., Karageorgos, A., and Nagpal, R., editors, Engineering Self Organising Sytems: Methodologies and Applications, number 3464 in Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence. Springer Verlag. [Ray, 1991] Ray, T. S. (1991). An approach to the synthesis of life. In Langton, C., Taylor, C., Farmer, J. D., and Rasmussen, S., editors, Artificial Life II, volume XI of Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity, pages 371–408. Addison-Wesley, Redwood City, CA. [Schmidhuber, 2004] Schmidhuber, J. (2004). Optimal ordered problem solver. Machine Learning, 54:211–254. [Turing, 6 7] Turing, A. M. (1936–7). On computable numbers with an application to the entscheidungsproblem. Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society, 42(2):230–265. also 43, pp. 544-546, 1937. [Weigand and Dignum, 2003] Weigand, H. and Dignum, V. (2003). I am autonomous, you are autonomous. In [Nickles et al., 2004], pages 227–236. [Witkowski and Stathis, 2003] Witkowski, M. and Stathis, K. (2003). A dialectic architecture for computational autonomy. In [Nickles et al., 2004], pages 261–274