Implementing Grassroots Logic Programs with Multiagent Transition Systems and AI (Full Version)

A grassroots platform is a multiagent distributed system in which multiple independent instances can form and operate independently of each other and of any global resource, yet may coalesce into ever larger instances, possibly resulting in a single global instance. Grassroots platforms aim to offer an egalitarian/democratic alternative to centralised/autocratic and decentralised/plutocratic global platforms. Here, we present Grassroots Logic Programs (GLP), a multiagent concurrent logic programming language designed for the implementation of grassroots platforms: we recall the standard operational semantics of logic programs; introduce the concurrent operational semantics of GLP as its restriction; recall multiagent atomic transactions; use them to introduce a multiagent operational semantics of GLP; and prove multiagent GLP to be grassroots. The grassroots social graph -- the foundational grassroots platform on which all others are based -- serves as a GLP programming example. These mathematical foundations are being used by AI to implement GLP as well as to program in GLP: a workstation-based implementation of concurrent GLP in Dart was derived from the concurrent operational semantics of GLP; a multiagent smartphone-based implementation of GLP in Dart/Flutter is being developed based on the multiagent operational semantics of GLP; a moded type system for GLP was designed (and implemented by AI in Dart) to facilitate collaborative human-AI development of GLP programs, where AI derives working GLP programs from human-approved type definitions and declarations; GLP implementations of grassroots platforms for the social graph, social networks, currencies and bonds, and more, have been derived by AI from mathematical specifications written as volitional multiagent atomic transactions.

A grassroots platform is a multiagent distributed system in which multiple independent instances can form and operate independently of each other and of any global resource, yet may coalesce into ever larger instances, possibly resulting in a single global instance. Grassroots platforms aim to offer an egalitarian/democratic alternative to centralised/autocratic and decentralised/plutocratic global platforms. Here, we present Grassroots Logic Programs (GLP), a multiagent concurrent logic programming language designed for the implementation of grassroots platforms: we recall the standard operational semantics of logic programs; introduce the concurrent operational semantics of GLP as its restriction; recall multiagent atomic transactions; use them to introduce a multiagent operational semantics of GLP; and prove multiagent GLP to be grassroots. The grassroots social graph—the foundational grassroots platform on which all others are based—serves as a GLP programming example.

Realizing a multiagent system involves implementing member agents who interact based on a protocol while making decisions in a decentralized manner. Current programming models for agents offer poor abstractions for decision making and fail to adequately bridge an agent's internal decision logic with its public decisions. We present Kiko, a protocol-based programming model for agents. To implement an agent, a programmer writes one or more decision makers, each of which chooses from among a set of valid decisions and makes mutually compatible decisions on what messages to send. By completely abstracting away the underlying communication service and by supporting practical decision-making patterns, Kiko enables agent developers to focus on business logic. We provide an operational semantics for Kiko and establish that Kiko agents are protocol compliant and able to realize any protocol enactment.