Interaction Kernel
Status
Implemented abstraction. This page describes the interaction_kernel/ package in the sibling EvolvedCooperation repository. It is a reusable kernel engine, not a website replay case study.
interaction_kernel/ replaces the earlier feedback-kernel design note with a concrete implementation that routes positive and negative effects through explicit kernels before selection.
Why This Kernel Exists
Retained Benefit generalizes several cooperation mechanisms by asking how much cooperative value returns to cooperators or copies of the cooperative rule. The interaction kernel takes the next step:
allow actions to generate both positive and negative fitness-relevant effects, and route both through explicit kernels
That makes it possible to represent cooperation and competition within one shared formal framework.
Examples:
- helping can create positive effects for others
- exclusion can impose negative effects on rivals
- territorial defense can benefit allies while harming competitors
- predatory or antagonistic actions can create mixed positive and negative downstream consequences
So this is not just a more general cooperation model. It is a more general interaction model.
Core Idea
The basic chain becomes:
The key design choice is:
That is, the model uses two nonnegative kernels rather than one signed kernel.
Interpretation:
- routes positive effects
- routes negative effects
This is cleaner than one signed kernel because it avoids cancellation inside a single operator and keeps normalization easier to interpret.
General Equations
Let agent take action at time .
That action may produce both:
and
where:
- is the positive, fitness-relevant output generated by the action of agent
- is the negative, fitness-relevant output generated by the action of agent
Those effects are then routed separately: