The Insufficiency of Formal Design Methods " The Necessity of an Experimental Approach - for the Understanding and Control of Complex MAS
Bruce Edmonds, Joanna J. Bryson · Adaptive Agents and Multi-Agents Systems · 2004
We highlight the limitations of formal methods by exhibiting two results in recursive function theory: that there is no effective means of finding a program that satisfies a given formal specification; or checking that a program meets a specification. We exhibit a simple MAS which has all the power of a Turing machine. We argue that any pure design methodology will face insurmountable difficulties in today's open and complex MAS. We recommend instead a methodology based on experimental method - scientific foundations for MAS construction and control.