Demonstration 3: Request and propose

Request and propose are quite similar acts, and it is not immediately clear that each is a necessary member of the repertoire. It seems odd also that request should be used at all with autonomous agents since it violates their free choice. However, it is still an expressive and useful act, and so if the agents can agree to always submit to requests, then it is of value. The question of handling requests in in a non-cooperative setting, where such agreements might be made insincerely, is an item for future work.

Figure 5.14: Dominance of propose(tell(P)) and request(tell(P))

The demonstration looks at asking, which is a composition of the request act with the tell act, or the propose act with the tell act. The fruit problem of Section 5.2.1 is used for the demonstration. A plot of the utility of each is given in figure 5.13. On the left, the request act is plotted. Since agent 2 unconditionally answers, the plot is derived from the basic value of information plot given in figure 5.3. The plot for propose(tell) is of the same form as that given in Section 5.5.2. Notice that neither request nor propose entirely covers the other over the belief space, and so each is dominant in some region of the belief space. Figure 5.14 plots the utility gain of the dominant strategy over ending the negotiation. Therefore each is a necessary member of the repertoire. Once again, it is apparent here that negotiation decisions are sensitive to the probability values of the probabilistic belief model.