Folks
I seem to have made a terrible faux pas by asking the questions about exam postponement preferences in the order I did.
If I was thinking clearly, I would have *first* asked whether anyone has irreconcilable conflicts if the exam date is shifted to Tuesday, and only if no one has irreconcilable conflicts should I have asked if the majority prefer shifting.
By asking the questions in the opposite order, I apparently created a bit of social pressure to the
people who said they have irreconcilable conflicts. The upshot is that one of them came by my office and changed their vote!
Creating social pariahs has not been my intention, and I apologize.
Nevertheless, since the damage has been done, if the others who voted to express irreconcilable preferences also want to change their
vote, they should let me know by tonight.
*Unless* you get a mail stating otherwise, we will be having the mid-term exam on Thursday.
cheers
rao
ps: This episode makes the point that once you make your plans public, they are no longer your plans and other agents can make commitments
based on your plans. See http://rakaposhi.eas.asu.edu/replan-08.pdf about how an intelligent agent has to keep commitments to other agents in mind while
trying to exploit opportunities.. (this is from the other part of my research life).
I seem to have made a terrible faux pas by asking the questions about exam postponement preferences in the order I did.
If I was thinking clearly, I would have *first* asked whether anyone has irreconcilable conflicts if the exam date is shifted to Tuesday, and only if no one has irreconcilable conflicts should I have asked if the majority prefer shifting.
By asking the questions in the opposite order, I apparently created a bit of social pressure to the
people who said they have irreconcilable conflicts. The upshot is that one of them came by my office and changed their vote!
Creating social pariahs has not been my intention, and I apologize.
Nevertheless, since the damage has been done, if the others who voted to express irreconcilable preferences also want to change their
vote, they should let me know by tonight.
*Unless* you get a mail stating otherwise, we will be having the mid-term exam on Thursday.
cheers
rao
ps: This episode makes the point that once you make your plans public, they are no longer your plans and other agents can make commitments
based on your plans. See http://rakaposhi.eas.asu.edu/replan-08.pdf about how an intelligent agent has to keep commitments to other agents in mind while
trying to exploit opportunities.. (this is from the other part of my research life).
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