ITR: Non-Cooperative Computing: Foundational Problems at the Interface of Computer Science and Game Theory

这个项目结合了两个学科，一方面是计算机科学和人工智能，另一方面是经济学和博弈论，通过这样做，解决了互联网时代计算的一些基本问题。所解决的一些问题直接植根于当今的Internet应用程序：如何对网络使用收费，以平滑需求高峰？你如何激励人们在推荐系统和酌情数据库中提供个人信息和推荐？虽然这个项目的动机是它在电子商务中的潜在应用，但重点是基础问题。互联网时代的计算意味着在多个自利实体的背景下进行计算，这反过来意味着计算推理必须考虑到这些实体的激励。这反过来又要求将计算机科学的思想（如容错、公平、验证、算法、复杂性、不确定性的图形模型、机器学习）与博弈论的元素（如机制设计、均衡分析、博弈表示、学习和代理理论）进行基本整合。预计这一结果将有利于电子商务，但更根本的是，它将有助于为一个名为“非合作计算”的新研究领域奠定基础。

This project brings together two disciplines, computer science and artificial intelligence on the one hand, and economics and game theory on the other, and by doing so addresses some fundamental problems of computing in the Internet era. Some of the problems addressed are rooted directly in today's Internet applications: How do you charge for network usage so as to smooth out peaks in the demand? How do you incent people to contribute personal information and recommendations in recommender systems and discretionary databases? While this project is motivated by its potential application to electronic commerce, the focus is on foundational matters. Computing in the Internet era means computing in the context of multiple self-interested entities, which in turn means that reasoning about computing must take the incentives of these entities into account. This, in turn, calls for a fundamental integration of ideas from computer science (such as fault tolerance, fairness, verification, algorithms, complexity, graphical models of uncertainty, machine learning) with elements of game theory (such as mechanism design, equilibrium analysis, game representations, learning, and agency theory). The outcome is expected to benefit electronic commerce, but also more fundamentally to help lay the foundations for a new area of research called "non-cooperative computing."