Speaker:

Professor Miklos N. Szilagyi
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona

Location:

Archway 2

Title:

"Computer Simulation of Multi-Person Prisoners' Dilemmas"

Abstract:

We will systematically present the problem of various N-person Prisoners' Dilemma games and some of their possible solutions. Thirteen characteristics of the game will be discussed. The role of payoff curves, personalities, and neighborhood have been investigated. We report computer simulation experiments based on our new agent-based simulation tool to model social and economic situations for the case of large numbers of not necessarily rational decision-makers. Our model has a number of user-defined parameters such as the size and shape of the simulation environment, the definition of neighborhood, the payoff (reward/penalty) functions, the learning rules, the agents' personalities, and the initial conditions. We have performed a series of simulation experiments with various combinations of these parameters. Investigations of realistic (non-dyadic) situations in which agents have various personalities show interesting new results. For the case of Pavlovian agents the game has two non-trivial but remarkably regular solutions. For a wide range of initial conditions, the number of cooperators oscillates around a relatively small value. When the initial aggregate cooperation probability is above a certain value, the solutions tend to reach well-defined constant values that are dependent on the initial values. For other types of agents the solutions show interesting chaos-like behavior. Examples of non-uniform distributions and mixed personalities will also be presented. All solutions strongly depend on the choice of parameter values. We will also present a model where the choice of actions is continuous. New ideas will be discussed on a realistic representation of human personalities.

Bio: A Life in a Nutshell -- Miklos N. Szilagyi

I was born in the wrong place at the wrong time. Accordingly, I've lived an unusually 'colorful' life in six different countries. I hardly survived the war and served both as president of a university and as an unemployed refugee. I was educated in Hungary and Russia: M.S. in Engineering Physics (with honors) from the Polytechnical University of Leningrad, Ph.D. from the Electrotechnical University of Leningrad, D.Tech. from the Polytechnical University of Budapest and D.Sc. (a degree of exceptional distinction) from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. I've worked in such areas as Applied Physics, Applied Mathematics,Computer Science, Particle Beams and Optics, Neural Networks, Physical Electronics, Electromagnetics, Biomedical Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Science and Education Policy, Management and Administration. I am the author of 11 books, over 130 scientific publications and some patents. I am a member of numerous societies, clubs and professional organizations and am listed in a number of reference books, such as Who's Who in the World. I have worked at research institutes and universities like Cornell, Stanford, Berkeley, University of Chicago, Deutsches Elektronen- Synchrotron DESY, Hungarian National Institute for Neurosurgery, Aarhus University, Delft Technological University, University of Heidelberg, Max Planck Institute of Nuclear Physics, etc., etc. I have been a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Arizona since 1982. I have been seriously studying history and social philosophy since my adolescent years. My book How To Save Our Country: A Nonpartisan Vision for Change was favorably compared with Arthur Schlesinger's /The Disuniting of America /in a scholarly review. As a university professor, a frequent public speaker, and a regular seminar leader on issues of social philosophy, I have many years of experience in public speaking on topics rooted in the humanities. I also teach a course on American values at the University of Arizona. In 1993, I founded The Tucson Institute , a nonpartisan nonprofit educational organization for better citizenship and for the promotion of integrity, honesty, and responsibility in political, business, and social relations. I serve as President of The Tucson Institute. My numerous hobbies include travel, swimming, literature, philately, graphology, languages (four of them), mathematical & computer games. I am a liberal conservative. I have two wonderful sons and four delightful grandchildren.