Dynamics at the Boundary of Game Theory and Distributed Computing

Abstract

We use ideas from distributed computing and game theory to study dynamic and decentralized environments in which computational nodes, or decision makers, interact strategically and with limited information. In such environments, which arise in many real-world settings, the participants act as both economic and computational entities. We exhibit a general non-convergence result for a broad class of dynamics in asynchronous settings. We consider implications of our result across a wide variety of interesting and timely applications: game dynamics, circuit design, social networks, Internet routing, and congestion control. We also study the computational and communication complexity of testing the convergence of asynchronous dynamics. Our work opens a new avenue for research at the intersection of distributed computing and game theory.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Aug 09, 2017
Source ID
10.1145/3107182

Entities

People

  • Aaron D. Jaggard
  • Michael Schapira
  • Neil Lutz
  • Rebecca N. Wright

Organizations

  • Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  • Israel Science Foundation
  • National Science Foundation
  • Office of Naval Research
  • Rutgers University
  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Agent-Based Social Robotics and Mobile-Assisted Learning in Virtual Environments.
  • Computer Networking
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.