The landscape of assumptions

ABSTRACT

The problem of how the explicit and implicit assumptions made during agent and simulation development are formulated and handled (or not handled) has received comparatively little research. Effective cooperation between multiple artificial agents requires not only an explicit representation of terms, concepts and processes, but also alignment of meaning between developers, integrators, and users. Assumptions, especially implicit ones, have potentially tremendous impact on establishing unambiguous representation due to potentially unintended interpretations.

This problem is important to agent directed simulation in several ways: agent mediated selection of simulation components requires methods for ensuring valid component interoperation; agents are a logical choice for automatically comparing sets of assumptions; and when potential conflicts are detected, agents have the potential to adjudicate and resolve them. This discussion will focus on the role of assumptions in modeling because it is fundamental to composing valid models and systems.

This paper summarizes how assumptions are defined, characterized, used and misused by modelers. It examines how assumptions can be used to identify potential conflicts between domain views.

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INDEX TERMS

Keywords:
assumptions, ontology