Propositionally representing incomplete knowledge about existence

Abstract

This paper considers the problem of representing the knowledge state of an observed agent who has incomplete knowledge of existence. Agents in such knowledge states are said to have existential misconceptions. We describe preliminary work on representing the knowledge state of an agent who possesses existential misconceptions and how to detect when this occurs. The method is based on a simulation of the observed agent's processes of information acquisition. We describe an implementation of this system and study its operation in a simulated microworld. The agent's acquisition of existential misconceptions is correlated with the agent's inaccurate beliefs of equality. This makes it possible to characterize an agent's existential misconceptions by describing its inaccurate beliefs of equality.