Similarity, conservatism, and rationality

We examine some formalizations of the notion of similarity as it appears in learning, and of the notion of conservatism as it appears in reasoning. We show that the underlying formalizations are closely related to each other and to a central notion of the formal theory of rationality. These connections indicate how the structures of similarity judgments and conservatism can arise naturally in agents which rationally govern their own representation and reasoning. This research was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency CDOD), ARPA Order No. 4976, Amendment 20, monitored by the Air Force Avionics Laboratory under Contract F33615-87-C-1499. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the author, and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or the Government of the United States of America.