Thinking in Promises

Chapter 3. Assessing Promises

The value of promising depends entirely on how it is assessed. Assessment of promises is an inherently subjective matter. Each agent may arrive at a different assessment, based on its observations. For instance, “I am/am not satisfied with the meal at the restaurant.” Agent 1 might have the gene allele that makes cilantro/coriander taste like soap, while agent 2 is a devoted Thai food enthusiast extraordinaire. Assessments must therefore respect the individuality or relativity of different agents’ perspectives.

What We Mean by Assessment

When we make a promise, we often have in mind a number of things:

• The promise itself: what outcome we intend

• The algorithm used to keep it: how a promise will be kept

• The motive behind it: why a promise is made

• The context in which it’s kept: where, when a promise is made

Someone assessing a promise might care about exactly how a promise is kept, but the promiser may or may not promise to use a particular method. In that case, the precise method becomes a part of the intended outcome too, and there might be unfulfilled expectations of promises broken by failing to follow a very specific sequence of actions. Similarly, there are corresponding elements of assessing whether a promise has been kept.

• Outcome: What was measured during the assessment?

• Context: Where was the sample taken?

• Algorithm: How was the sample taken?

• Motive: Why the assessment was made?

• Expectation: What were we expecting to ...