We discuss for the concept of promises within a framework that can be applied to either humans or technology. We compare promises to the more established notion of obligations and find promises to be both simpler and more effective at reducing uncertainty in behavioural outcomes.
We present a process algebra based approach to formalize the interactions of computing devices such as the representation of policies and the resolution of conflicts. As an example we specify how promises may be used in coming to an agreement regardi
ng a simple though practical transportation problem.
