PERFORMANCE
MEASURE We use the term performance measure for the how—the criteria that determine how
successful an agent is. Obviously, there is not one fixed measure suitable for all agents. We
could ask the agent for a subjective opinion of how happy it is with its own performance, but
some agents would be unable to answer, and others would delude themselves. (Human agents in
particular are notorious for “sour grapes”—saying they did not really want something after they
are unsuccessful at getting it.) Therefore, we will insist on an objective performance measure
imposed by some authority. In other words, we as outside observers establish a standard of what
it means to be successful in an environment and use it to measure the performance of agents.
As an example, consider the case of an agent that is supposed to vacuum a dirty floor. A
plausible performancemeasure would be the amount of dirt cleaned up in a single eight-hourshift.
A more sophisticated performance measure would factor in the amount of electricity consumed
and the amount of noise generated as well. A third performance measure might give highest
marks to an agent that not only cleans the floor quietly and efficiently, but also finds time to go
windsurfing at the weekend.1
The when of evaluating performance is also important. If we measured how much dirt the
agent had cleaned up in the first hour of the day, we would be rewarding those agents that start
fast (even if they do little or no work later on), and punishing those that work consistently. Thus,
we want to measure performance over the long run, be it an eight-hour shift or a lifetime.
OMNISCIENCE We need to be careful to distinguish between rationality and omniscience. An omniscient
agent knows the actual outcome of its actions, and can act accordingly; but omniscience is
impossible in reality. Consider the following example: I am walking along the Champs Elysees ´
one day and I see an old friend across the street. There is no traffic nearby and I’m not otherwise
engaged, so, being rational, I start to cross the street. Meanwhile, at 33,000 feet, a cargo door
falls off a passing airliner,
2
and before I make it to the other side of the street I am flattened. Was
I irrational to cross the street?
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