self consistency, communication channel and free speech

i was working on self consistency and multiagent rl. the equation is so simple and elegant, which has deep implications to recent reasoning model boom, function calling and multiagent pro mode product such as chatgpt pro and grok heavy.

equation in question answer formation:

p(answer|question) = Σ_reasoning p(reasoning, answer|question)
best_answer = argmax_answer p(answer|question)

if n reasoning agents work on the same question, the aggregated answer is probably a better answer than 1 shot. aggregation could happen in voting, or high level agent synthesizing.

reasoning traces act like a substrate to be marginalized on, which links question to answer in a way naive direct mapping fn(q) -> a can’t learn effectively. in a way, reasoning traces form the latent seed to foster q->a crystallization process.

reasoning trace doesn’t have to be in pure text tokens. multiturn, multimodal fn call trace is even better. more grounding, larger contact surface, larger creative space, easier to incentivize diversity.

the same applies, if n extensive multiturn fn call traces converge to the same answer, which is probably a good answer, or fair to say it’s the best answer that model could generate for now.

this is the product rationale behind chatgpt pro and grok heavy. given a question/request/instruction, instantiate n agents, each applies reasoning powered multiturn fn call, then aggregate. inherently self consistency++.

the probability eq only holds if agents are working independently. what if they could communicate? what’s changed?

intertwined interaction trajectories invalidate the simple and beautiful marginalization equation. however, communication channel unlocks info exchange, cooperation, competition, higher level planning and specialization. a group of agents is not in iso anymore, emergent, higher level entity will be grown, and it will co-evolve with the host environment.

emergent meta agent, as the new entity of a group of sub agents is similar to how humans form family, organization, society and build civilization. however, meta agent’s emergent property is highly determined by how communication channel is managed.

free speech, the control of communication channel can’t be monopolized by 1 interest group. the whole society is programmed by action/reaction wrt environment, AND how info flow within. censorship and propaganda could basically program the society to full range of group behaviors. individual control won’t be 100%, but group behavior? almost 100%.

free speech is a spectrum. the more parties have comparable fight in the info manufacturing and distribution channel, the better. on the monopoly end, authoritarian polity, without internal political challenger, out facing firewall, internal censorship and propaganda, the ruling class could basically program the society to whatever it wants, as long as the group action / environment reaction won’t deteriorate to threaten people survival at scale.

independent agents preserve diversity. connected agents define group behavior, which shapes the environment that affects individuals. freer speech is the base for evolving, learning society. life is more than kamala v. trump. interest groups collide with each other. the mass, society as a whole should be able to learn and evolve. individual sovereignty bubble should be protected. it’s all built on top of a healthy info sphere.

honestly, with prevalent short video platforms and advanced ai video model, i don’t even know how …