Checkpoint PowerPoint

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Checkpoint PowerPoint
Winter Quarter 2008 COM SCI 194 Honors
Research Professor Amit Sahai Alexander Liu and
Eric Chang
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Progress Overview

• Expanded coding on our simulation framework
• With some extensions it is sufficient for our
  current needs
• Finished running our initial sets of experiments
• These results are leading us to branch off into
  new directions

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Experimental Topics

• Single variable-controlled altruism vs. altruism
  that is influenced by two variables- one
  governing potential and one expression
• The influence of locality- do altruists have a
  better chance when they interact with each other
  more than they do with strangers? What if they
  were allowed to horde?
• Genetic vs. cultural basis for altruism- the
  former is strictly inherited, the latter could be
  influenced and changed
• One hypothesis is that altruism has its roots in
  behavior between parents and children- being nice
  to your kids does not require reciprocation to
  have immediate benefits for the survival of your
  genes

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Selected Graphs

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Whats next?

• Many of our results indicate potential for
  further investigations in depth
• Development of existing experiments and creation
  of related new ones will help us do so
• We want to place our focus on repeated phenomena
  it is our hope that these can provide glimpses
  into the fundamental principles underlying
  altruism