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| 3 : | \chapter{Agreements} | ||
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| 6 : | In philosophy and economimcs, promises are often mixed together with | ||
| 7 : | the notions like contractsand agreements, and all considered to be | ||
| 8 : | related. In our theory of $\mu$-promises, however, promises are a | ||
| 9 : | fundamental unit from which we can derive these other concepts. | ||
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| 12 : | mark | 36 | \section{Promise proposals and signing}\label{propose} |
| 13 : | mark | 1 | |
| 14 : | Promises can exist and be discussed without them ever having been | ||
| 15 : | made or intended to be kept by an agent. We have used the notation | ||
| 16 : | $\psi(\pi)$ for a description of the promise $\pi$. This description | ||
| 17 : | must be adopted by an agent before it can be said to have made the promise. | ||
| 18 : | It is therefore useful to maintain the idea of promise proposals. | ||
| 19 : | \begin{definition}[Promise proposals] | ||
| 20 : | The statement of a promise that is posited for consideration by one or | ||
| 21 : | more parties, prior to keeping or discarding the promise. | ||
| 22 : | \end{definition} | ||
| 23 : | |||
| 24 : | Promise proposals are often discussed as part of treaty negotiations | ||
| 25 : | and commercial relationships. The terminology of these proposals is | ||
| 26 : | somewhat confused, so we define our own terminology below. | ||
| 27 : | |||
| 28 : | \begin{definition}[Signing a proposal] | ||
| 29 : | The concept of signing a proposal is to attach an agent's identity to | ||
| 30 : | is as a promise to use the proposal. | ||
| 31 : | \end{definition} | ||
| 32 : | |||
| 33 : | |||
| 34 : | \section{The notion of an agreement}\label{contracts} | ||
| 35 : | |||
| 36 : | Not all agreements involve promises. An agreement is simply the | ||
| 37 : | arrival at a common conclusion by two individuals. For example, two | ||
| 38 : | parties can agree that $2+2=4$. | ||
| 39 : | \begin{definition}[Agreement] | ||
| 40 : | mark | 38 | A state of acceptance about a proposal that is shared between two or more parties. |
| 41 : | mark | 1 | \end{definition} |
| 42 : | Two agents may or may not know about their common state of agreement. | ||
| 43 : | |||
| 44 : | Agreement about some body of information can be turned into a promise | ||
| 45 : | however if we phrase the acceptance as a promise, usually by | ||
| 46 : | signing. If all parties promise that a set of proposals will be | ||
| 47 : | honoured, then an agreement may be expressed as a promise to keep some | ||
| 48 : | specification or promise proposals. This may be called the {\em body} | ||
| 49 : | of the agreement. The term contract is also used here. | ||
| 50 : | |||
| 51 : | \begin{definition}[Contract] | ||
| 52 : | mark | 38 | A bilateral bundle of promise proposals between two agents, that is |
| 53 : | mark | 1 | intended to serve as the body of an agreement. |
| 54 : | \end{definition} | ||
| 55 : | |||
| 56 : | Agreements are often assumed to be about policies or actions | ||
| 57 : | (agreements to act) and are often formalized using contracts in which | ||
| 58 : | case both parties agree to the terms of a common contract. | ||
| 59 : | |||
| 60 : | \bigskip | ||
| 61 : | \begin{definition}[Promise agreement] | ||
| 62 : | A promise agreement is a pair of use-promises between two parties to | ||
| 63 : | mark | 38 | acknowledge and adopt the body of a proposal. |
| 64 : | mark | 1 | \end{definition} |
| 65 : | \bigskip | ||
| 66 : | |||
| 67 : | |||
| 68 : | |||
| 69 : | \section{Legal agreements, terms and conditions} | ||
| 70 : | |||
| 71 : | Many legal agreements may be considered sets of promises that define | ||
| 72 : | hypothetical boundary conditions for an interaction between parties or | ||
| 73 : | agents. The law is one such example. One expects the promises | ||
| 74 : | described in the terms and conditions of the contract will rarely need | ||
| 75 : | to be enforced, because one hopes that it will never reach such a | ||
| 76 : | point, however the terms define a standard response to such | ||
| 77 : | infractions. Legal contracts define what happens mainly at the edge | ||
| 78 : | states of the behaviour one hopes to ensue. | ||
| 79 : | |||
| 80 : | Note that a collection of promises is not necessarily consistent or | ||
| 81 : | sustainable. An agreement has to be worked out so that it is of mutual | ||
| 82 : | economic benefit to both parties, from each of their perspectives. | ||
| 83 : | This, however, has to do with the economic sustainability of the | ||
| 84 : | promises. An agent can clearly make a promise that it is in fact | ||
| 85 : | incapable of keeping. | ||
| 86 : | |||
| 87 : | \subsection{Example: Service Level Agreements} | ||
| 88 : | |||
| 89 : | Promises to keep within certain behavioural limits are clearly | ||
| 90 : | analogous to items that would be mentioned in Service Level | ||
| 91 : | Agreements, and hence we expect to be able to use them, within a | ||
| 92 : | suitable framework, to discuss Service Level Agreements. A promise, | ||
| 93 : | however, is not an agreement by itself. We must first explore the | ||
| 94 : | relationship between promises and agreements. | ||
| 95 : | |||
| 96 : | A service contract, for example, would be a contract from an agent | ||
| 97 : | that takes on the role of provider to another agent that has the role | ||
| 98 : | of client. The body of the agreement consists of the promised | ||
| 99 : | behaviours surrounding the delivery and consumption of a | ||
| 100 : | service,. From this we may define a Service Level Agreement as | ||
| 101 : | |||
| 102 : | \bigskip | ||
| 103 : | \begin{definition}[Service Level Agreement] | ||
| 104 : | An agreement between two agents whose body describes a contract | ||
| 105 : | for service delivery and consumption. | ||
| 106 : | \end{definition} | ||
| 107 : | \bigskip | ||
| 108 : | |||
| 109 : | We can supplment this with defintions of the roles\cite{siri1}. | ||
| 110 : | |||
| 111 : | \section{Cooperative agreement or treaty negotiation} | ||
| 112 : | |||
| 113 : | If two agents agree to agree to behave according to the same standard | ||
| 114 : | as one another, then their common agreement is the intersection. | ||
| 115 : | \begin{definition}[Agreement] | ||
| 116 : | \beq | ||
| 117 : | \frac{a \promise{C(\pi_1)} b, b \promise{C(\pi_2)} a} | ||
| 118 : | {a \stackrel{\pi_1\cap\pi_2}{\leftrightarrow} b} | ||
| 119 : | \eeq | ||
| 120 : | We still have to decide what this actually means. | ||
| 121 : | \end{definition} | ||
| 122 : | This clarifies the process and limitations of an agreement.. Each | ||
| 123 : | party might promise asymmetrically to keep certain behaviours, but the | ||
| 124 : | overlap is the only part on which they agree. Note that neither party | ||
| 125 : | can be subordinate to the other in such an agreement. | ||
| 126 : | |||
| 127 : | |||
| 128 : | \section{Conract economics} | ||
| 129 : | |||
| 130 : | There is more to be said about contracts and agreements in connection | ||
| 131 : | with the economics of promises. See section \ref{pam}. |
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