Cellphones for selfish users

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Cellphones for selfish users

• Elan Pavlov
• MIT Media Lab

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Computational economics

• The field of computational economics attempts to
  motivate selfish users to act in the global good.
• This is done by ensuring that the optimal
  solution for individuals will be achieved when
  they work towards global happiness.

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Power for cellphones

• Power usage is cellphone is a function of the
  distance to the destination.
• Depending on the terrain the power usage is
  between distance2-distance4.

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Example
Peer
Destination
Caller
Peer
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Example
Peer
Destination
Caller
Peer
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Peer
Destination
Caller
Peer
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Peer
Destination
Caller
Peer
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Saving power

• Why not use hopping for cell phones?
• People are selfish and the person who agrees to
  forward can have her cellphone battery depleted
  faster.

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Our solution

• We offer a simple guarantee
• If you agree to forward for others your battery
  will always last at least as long as if you
  dont.
• Based on a system of debt.
• We also have debt forgiveness.

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Breaking geometrical symmetry

• Moving cellphones
• P2P

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Simulations (movement)
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Summary

• A simple system of debt allows us to achieve an
  almost optimal power sharing in cellphones with
  the guarantee that no user is ever harmed.