Trust is at the basis of several applications in computational domains. From a logical viewpoint, formulating assertion operations in terms of a trust function is a great conceptual and technical challenge, as this is a fluid epistemic notion. From an experimental viewpoint, on the other hand, agent-based simulations can offer a stimulating approach to identify conditions and limits of trust operations. In this talk, I will first briefly present a logic and then a NetLogo implementation of epistemic trust in networks where contradictory information is shared by ranked lazy and sceptic agents. Trust is a property of edges, required when message passing is executed bottom-up in the hierarchy or by a sceptic agent. These situations are associated with a confirmation procedure that has an epistemic cost. I will describe the algorithms implemented in the model and then focus on experimental results concerning: conditions for consensus-reaching transmissions; analysis of epistemic costs induced by confirmation operations; the role of the ranking of seeding nodes in determining consensus and costs; complexity results. This is joint work with Jacopo Tagliabue.

Giuseppe Primiero is Senior Lecturer in Computing Science at the Department of Computer Science, Middlesex University London and Guest Professor at the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science, Ghent University. He is Vice-President of the DHST-DLMPST Commission on the History and Philosophy of Computing and Member of the Leadership Committees of the Society for the Philosophy of Information and the International Association for Computing and Philosophy. His research areas include logic, type theories, philosophy of information and computation.