Increasing Trust in Meta-Heuristics by Using MAP-Elites (2019)
Conference Proceeding
Urquhart, N., Guckert, M., & Powers, S. (2019). Increasing Trust in Meta-Heuristics by Using MAP-Elites. In GECCO '19 Companion (1345-1348). https://doi.org/10.1145/3319619.3326816

Intelligent AI systems using approaches containing emergent elements often encounter acceptance problems. Results do not get sufficiently explained and the procedure itself can not be fully retraced because the flow of control is dependent on stochas... Read More about Increasing Trust in Meta-Heuristics by Using MAP-Elites.

Finding Fair Negotiation Algorithms to Reduce Peak Electricity Consumption in Micro Grids (2019)
Conference Proceeding
Powers, S. T., Meanwell, O., & Cai, Z. (2019). Finding Fair Negotiation Algorithms to Reduce Peak Electricity Consumption in Micro Grids. In PAAMS 2019: Advances in Practical Applications of Survivable Agents and Multi-Agent Systems: The PAAMS Collection (269-272). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24209-1_28

Reducing peak electricity consumption is important to maximise use of renewable energy sources, and reduce the total amount of capacity required on a grid. Most approaches use a centralised optimisation algorithm run by a utility company. Here we dev... Read More about Finding Fair Negotiation Algorithms to Reduce Peak Electricity Consumption in Micro Grids.

An Agent Based Technique for Improving Multi-Stakeholder Optimisation Problems (2019)
Conference Proceeding
Urquhart, N., & Powers, S. T. (2019). An Agent Based Technique for Improving Multi-Stakeholder Optimisation Problems. In PAAMS 2019: Advances in Practical Applications of Survivable Agents and Multi-Agent Systems: The PAAMS Collection: vol 1 – Main track and Demos proceedings (285-289). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24209-1_32

We present an agent based framework for improving multi-stakeholder optimisation problems, which we define as optimisation problems where the solution is utilised by a number of stakeholders who have their own local preferences. We explore our ideas... Read More about An Agent Based Technique for Improving Multi-Stakeholder Optimisation Problems.

Trusting Intelligent Machines: Deepening Trust Within Socio-Technical Systems (2018)
Journal Article
Andras, P., Esterle, L., Guckert, M., Anh Han, T., Lewis, P. R., Milanovic, K., …Wells, S. (2018). Trusting Intelligent Machines: Deepening Trust Within Socio-Technical Systems. IEEE technology & society magazine, 37(4), 76-83. https://doi.org/10.1109/MTS.2018.2876107

Intelligent machines have reached capabilities that go beyond a level that a human being can fully comprehend without sufficiently detailed understanding of the underlying mechanisms. The choice of moves in the game Go (generated by Deep Mind?s Alpha... Read More about Trusting Intelligent Machines: Deepening Trust Within Socio-Technical Systems.

Can justice be fair when it is blind? How social network structures can promote or prevent the evolution of despotism (2018)
Conference Proceeding
Perret, C., Powers, S. T., Pitt, J., & Hart, E. (2018). Can justice be fair when it is blind? How social network structures can promote or prevent the evolution of despotism. In T. Ikegami, N. Virgo, O. Witkowski, M. Oka, R. Suzuki, & H. Iizuka (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2018 Conference on Artificial Life. https://doi.org/10.1162/isal_a_00058

Hierarchy is an efficient way for a group to organize, but often goes along with inequality that benefits leaders. To control despotic behaviour, followers can assess leaders' decisions by aggregating their own and their neighbours' experience, and i... Read More about Can justice be fair when it is blind? How social network structures can promote or prevent the evolution of despotism.

Co-creating Enduring Institutions for Socio-Technical Systems: The Complementarity of Content-based and Value-based Modelling Approaches (2018)
Conference Proceeding
Lewis, P. R., Powers, S. T., & Ekárt, A. (2018). Co-creating Enduring Institutions for Socio-Technical Systems: The Complementarity of Content-based and Value-based Modelling Approaches. In N. Virgo, T. Ikegami, O. Witkowski, M. Oka, R. Suzuki, & H. Iizuka (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2018 Conference on Artificial Life. https://doi.org/10.1162/isal_a_00026

No abstract available.

Modelling enduring institutions: The complementarity of evolutionary and agent-based approaches (2018)
Journal Article
Powers, S. T., Ekárt, A., & Lewis, P. R. (2018). Modelling enduring institutions: The complementarity of evolutionary and agent-based approaches. Cognitive Systems Research, 52, 67-81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsys.2018.04.012

Empirical work has shown that societies can sometimes avoid antisocial outcomes , such as the Tragedy of the Commons, by establishing institutional rules that govern their interactions. Moreover, groups are more likely to avoid antisocial outcomes wh... Read More about Modelling enduring institutions: The complementarity of evolutionary and agent-based approaches.

The institutional approach for modeling the evolution of human societies (2018)
Journal Article
Powers, S. T. (2018). The institutional approach for modeling the evolution of human societies. Artificial Life, 24(1), 10-28. https://doi.org/10.1162/ARTL_a_00251

Artificial Life is concerned with understanding the dynamics of human societies. A defining feature of any society is its institutions. However, defining exactly what an institution is has proven difficult, with authors often talking past each other.... Read More about The institutional approach for modeling the evolution of human societies.

Defection (2017)
Book Chapter
Powers, S. T. (2017). Defection. In Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science (1-4). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1616-1

No abstract available.

The institutional approach for modeling the evolution of human societies (2016)
Conference Proceeding
Powers, S. (2016). The institutional approach for modeling the evolution of human societies. In Proceedings of the Artificial Life Conference 2016. https://doi.org/10.7551/978-0-262-33936-0-ch011

Artificial Life is concerned with understanding the dynamics of human societies. A defining feature of any human society is its institutions. However, defining exactly what an institution is has proven difficult, with authors often talking past each... Read More about The institutional approach for modeling the evolution of human societies.

When is bigger better? The effects of group size on the evolution of helping behaviours: Effects of group size on evolution of helping (2016)
Journal Article
Powers, S. T., & Lehmann, L. (2017). When is bigger better? The effects of group size on the evolution of helping behaviours: Effects of group size on evolution of helping. Biological Reviews, 92(2), 902-920. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12260

Understanding the evolution of sociality in humans and other species requires understanding how selection on social behaviour varies with group size. However, the effects of group size are frequently obscured in the theoretical literature, which ofte... Read More about When is bigger better? The effects of group size on the evolution of helping behaviours: Effects of group size on evolution of helping.