🚀 go-pugleaf

Departmental Seminar at 2pm, 11th Sept in F10, 80 South Bridge, Edinburgh.
	    
		   Decision theory for autonomous systems

				  John Fox
			Imperial Cancer Research Fund

Some weaknesses of current decision technologies are discussed in the context
of oncology and general medicine.  A comprehensive decision theory should cover
autonomous decision making, where an agent can formulate questions as well as
take decisions, and decision "support".  Classical numerical methods have 
clear theoretical foundations, but they are representationally weak and
only deal with a small part of the decision process.  Knowledge-based "expert"
systems have promised greater flexibility but have not been accompanied by a
clear decision theory.  Formal development of {\em symbolic decision 
procedures} is advocated; a theoretical framework based on FOPC rather than 
probability theory will be presented.  A central proposal is an extended form
of deduction we call {\em argumentation}; the construction of arguments for and
against decision options from generalised domain theories.


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       Suggestions for Dept of AI Seminar speakers are always
                welcome.   Please e-mail suggestions to
                    Toby Walsh <Toby_Walsh@ed.ac.uk>
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--
Toby Walsh,                       JANET: Toby_Walsh@uk.ac.edinburgh
Dept of Artificial Intelligence,  ARPA: Toby_Walsh%uk.ac.ed@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
80 South Bridge,                  UUCP:  ...!ukc!ed.ac.uk!Toby_Walsh
Edinburgh EH1 1HN                 TEL:   +44 31 650 2725