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What ants cannot do

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Distributed Software Agents and Applications (MAAMAW 1994)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 1069))

Abstract

What is the relation between the complexity of agents and the complexity of the goals that they can achieve? It is argued on the basis of a fundamental conservation of complexity principle that complex goals can only be achieved if either the agents or their environment has a complexity of matching stature. This has consequences for research programs in distributed artificial intelligence, robotics and connectionism. After presenting a qualitative theory of complexity of agent systems, we also critically investigate the claims and the realities behind reactive agents, the subsumption architecture (Brooks), and the view of plans as resources (Agre, Chapman, Suchman). Finally, the implications of the complexity conservation principle for the foundations of cosmology and complexity of the universe are discussed. Puzzles appear whose possible solution relates the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics with the second law of thermodynamics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. DnaSoft, Madison, Wisconsin

    Eric Werner

Authors
  1. Eric Werner
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John W. Perram Jean-Pierre Müller

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© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Werner, E. (1996). What ants cannot do. In: Perram, J.W., Müller, JP. (eds) Distributed Software Agents and Applications. MAAMAW 1994. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1069. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-61157-6_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-61157-6_19

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-61157-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-68335-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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