Questions before I start: Does UDT encompass game theory, or is it limited to analyzing single-player situations? Is UDT completely explained in your postings, or is it, like TDT, still in the process of being written up?
Wei has described a couple versions of UDT. His descriptions seemed to me to be mathematically rigorous. Based on Wei’s posts, I wrote this pdf, which gives just the definition of a UDT agent (as I understand it), without motivation or justification.
The difficulty with multiple agents looks like it will be very hard to get around within the UDT framework. UDT works essentially by passing the buck to an agent who is at the planning stage*. That planning-stage agent then performs a conventional expected-utility calculation.
But some scenarios seem best described by saying that there are multiple planning-stage agents. That means that UDT is subject to all of the usual difficulties that arise when you try to use expected utility alone in multiplayer games (e.g., prisoners dilemma). It’s just that these difficulties arise at the planning stage instead of at the action stage directly.
*Somewhat more accurately, the buck is passed to the UDT agent’s simulation of an agent who is at the planning stage.
Wei has described a couple versions of UDT. His descriptions seemed to me to be mathematically rigorous. Based on Wei’s posts, I wrote this pdf, which gives just the definition of a UDT agent (as I understand it), without motivation or justification.
The difficulty with multiple agents looks like it will be very hard to get around within the UDT framework. UDT works essentially by passing the buck to an agent who is at the planning stage*. That planning-stage agent then performs a conventional expected-utility calculation.
But some scenarios seem best described by saying that there are multiple planning-stage agents. That means that UDT is subject to all of the usual difficulties that arise when you try to use expected utility alone in multiplayer games (e.g., prisoners dilemma). It’s just that these difficulties arise at the planning stage instead of at the action stage directly.
*Somewhat more accurately, the buck is passed to the UDT agent’s simulation of an agent who is at the planning stage.