Thinking about Acting: Logical Foundations for Rational Decision Making

Description

John Pollock aims to construct a theory of rational decision making for real agents--not ideal agents. Real agents have limited cognitive powers, but traditional theories of rationality have applied only to idealized agents that lack such constraints. Pollock argues that theories of ideal rationality are largely irrelevant to the decision making of real agents. We need a theory of "real rationality" in its place. Thinking about Acting aims to do just that.
The most contentious conclusions of the book are: (1) For purely computational reasons, the primitive evaluative database that real agents employ in evaluating outcomes cannot be preference ranking. An agent's evaluative database must instead assign real numbers to outcomes. It is argued that, contrary to initial appearances, this is psychologically plausible. (2) Subjective probability makes no sense when we are talking about real (resource bounded) agents. Rational decision making must instead be based on a species of objective probability, and it is discussed how this can be done. (3) Classical decision theory is based on the optimality principle, according to which rationality dictates choosing actions that constitute optimal solutions to practical problems. It is argued that the optimality prescription is wrong, for a number of reasons: (a) actions cannot be chosen in isolation--they must be chosen as parts of plans; (b) we cannot expect real agents to find optimal plans, because there are infinitely many alternatives to survey; (c) plans cannot be evaluated in terms of their expected values anyway, because different plans can be of different scopes. Pollock constructs an alternative theory that accommodates these difficulties. This theory is intended not only to solve the philosophical problems, but also to provide the basis for an implemented system of decision-theoretic planning in artificial intelligence.





http://rapidshare.com/files/185316316/ThiDecMak.rar

Disclaimer:
Contents of this page are indexed from the Internet. All actions are under your responsability. Email us to report illegal contents or external links and we'll remove them immediately.

Please check the description for download links if any or do a search to find alternative books.

Can't Download?
Please search mirrors if you can't find download links for "Thinking about Acting: Logical Foundations for Rational Decision Making" in "Description" and someone else may update the links. Check the comments when back to find any updates.

Search Mirrors
Maybe some mirror pages will be helpful, search this book at top of this page or click here to find more info.

1. Ebooks list page : 2200
2. Rational Diagnosis and Treatment: Evidence-Based Clinical Decision-Making
3. Rational Diagnosis and Treatment: Evidence-Based Clinical Decision-Making - 3rd ed (2000)
4. Management Science: Decision-Making Through Systems Thinking
5. Foundations Of Decision-Making Agents: Logic, Probability and Modality
6. Foundations Of Decision-Making Agents: Logic, Probability and Modality
7. [share_ebook] Foundations Of Decision-Making Agents: Logic, Probability and Modality
8. [share_ebook] Foundations Of Decision-Making Agents: Logic, Probability and Modality -
9. Intelligent Decision-making Support Systems: Foundations, Applications and Challenges
10. William J. Altier - The Thinking Manager's Toolbox: Effective Processes for Problem Solving and Decision Making
11. David Hardman, Laura Macchi - The Thinking: Psychological Perspectives on Reasoning Judgment And Decision Making
12. Decision Making in the Manufacturing Environment: Using Graph Theory and Fuzzy Multiple Attribute Decision Making Methods
13. Stop Acting Like a Seller and Start Thinking Like a Buyer
14. Decision Making Under Uncertainty: Cognitive Decision Research, Social Interaction, Development and Epistemology
15. Being Logical: A Guide to Good Thinking
16. Being Logical: A Guide to Good Thinking