Abstract:

We suggest that the issue of constructing and verifying social procedures, which we suggestively call {\em social software}, be pursued as systematically as computer software is pursued by computer scientists. There are certain complications arising with social software which do not arise with computer software, but the similarities are nonetheless strong, and tools already exist which would enable us to start work on this important project. We give a variety of suggestive examples like that of Solomon and the two mothers, or the problem of the two horsemen, and indicate some theoretical work which already exists. Tools used include Game logic, an extension of Dynamic Logic, and Game theory in the sense of von-Neumann, Morgenstern and Nash.