Interpreting systems as solving POMDPs: a step towards a formal understanding of agency
Interpreting systems as solving POMDPs: a step towards a formal understanding of agency
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将系统解释为解决 POMDP：迈向正式理解代理的一步
DOI：
10.48550/arxiv.2209.01619
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发表时间：
2022
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
N. Virgo
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Martin Biehl;N. Virgo
在什么情况下可以说一个系统有信念和目标，以及这些与主体相关的特征如何与它的物理状态相关联？最近的工作提出了解释图的概念，这是一个将系统的状态映射到概率分布的函数，表示其对外部世界的信念。这样的映射不是完全任意的，因为它赋予系统的信念必须以与贝叶斯定理一致的方式随时间推移而演变，因此系统的动态约束了它可能的解释。在这里，我们建立在这一方法的基础上，提出了一个解释的概念，不仅在信仰方面，但在目标和行动方面。要做到这一点，我们利用现有的理论部分可观察马尔可夫过程（POMDP）：我们说，一个系统可以被解释为一个POMDP的解决方案，如果它不仅承认一个解释图描述其信念的隐藏状态的POMDP，但也采取行动，是最佳的根据其信念状态。一个代理是一个系统，并将这个系统解释为POMDP解决方案。虽然POMDPs并不是唯一可能的表述有一个目标意味着什么，但这仍然代表了一个更一般的正式定义，它意味着一个系统是一个代理。
Under what circumstances can a system be said to have beliefs and goals, and how do such agency-related features relate to its physical state? Recent work has proposed a notion of interpretation map, a function that maps the state of a system to a probability distribution representing its beliefs about an external world. Such a map is not completely arbitrary, as the beliefs it attributes to the system must evolve over time in a manner that is consistent with Bayes' theorem, and consequently the dynamics of a system constrain its possible interpretations. Here we build on this approach, proposing a notion of interpretation not just in terms of beliefs but in terms of goals and actions. To do this we make use of the existing theory of partially observable Markov processes (POMDPs): we say that a system can be interpreted as a solution to a POMDP if it not only admits an interpretation map describing its beliefs about the hidden state of a POMDP but also takes actions that are optimal according to its belief state. An agent is then a system together with an interpretation of this system as a POMDP solution. Although POMDPs are not the only possible formulation of what it means to have a goal, this nevertheless represents a step towards a more general formal definition of what it means for a system to be an agent.