An explanation that I’ve seen before of “where agency begins” is when an entity executes OODA loops. I don’t know if OODA loops are a completely accurate map to reality, but they’ve been a useful model so far. If someone were going to explore “where agency begins” OODA loops might be a good starting point.
I feel like an article about “what agency is” must’ve already been written here, but I don’t remember it. In any case, that article on agency in Conway’s Life sounds like my next stop, thank you for linking it!
Well, it has helped me understand & overcome some of the specific ways that akrasia affects me, and it has also helped me understand how my own mind works, so I can alter and (hopefully) optimize it.
I didn’t pick it up from any reputable sources. The white paper on military theory that created the term was written many years ago, and since then I’ve only seen that explanation tossed around informally in various places, not investigated with serious rigor. OODA loops seem to be seldom discussed on this site, which I find kinda weird, but a good full explanation of them can be found here: Training Regime Day 20: OODA Loop
I tried to figure out on my own whether executing an OODA loop was necessary & sufficient condition for something to be an intelligent agent, (part of an effort to determine what the smallest & simplest thing which could still be considered true AGI might be) and I found that while executing OODA loops seems necessary for something to have meaningful agency, doing so is not sufficient for something to be an intelligent agent.
Thank you for your interest, though! I wish I could just reply with a link, but I don’t think the paper I would link to has been written yet.
I asked because that’s a reasonable one-line approximation of my own tentative theory of agency. I’m happy to hear that other people have similar intuitions! Alas that there isn’t a fleshed out paper I can go read. Do you have any… nonreputable sources to link me to, that I might benefit from reading?
Indeed, why not? Where is the emergence threshold, or a zone? I would think this is where one would want to start understanding the concept of agency.
An explanation that I’ve seen before of “where agency begins” is when an entity executes OODA loops. I don’t know if OODA loops are a completely accurate map to reality, but they’ve been a useful model so far. If someone were going to explore “where agency begins” OODA loops might be a good starting point.
I feel like an article about “what agency is” must’ve already been written here, but I don’t remember it. In any case, that article on agency in Conway’s Life sounds like my next stop, thank you for linking it!
Useful model so far meaning what?
Well, it has helped me understand & overcome some of the specific ways that akrasia affects me, and it has also helped me understand how my own mind works, so I can alter and (hopefully) optimize it.
Where did you see that explanation? I want to go read it!
I didn’t pick it up from any reputable sources. The white paper on military theory that created the term was written many years ago, and since then I’ve only seen that explanation tossed around informally in various places, not investigated with serious rigor. OODA loops seem to be seldom discussed on this site, which I find kinda weird, but a good full explanation of them can be found here: Training Regime Day 20: OODA Loop
I tried to figure out on my own whether executing an OODA loop was necessary & sufficient condition for something to be an intelligent agent, (part of an effort to determine what the smallest & simplest thing which could still be considered true AGI might be) and I found that while executing OODA loops seems necessary for something to have meaningful agency, doing so is not sufficient for something to be an intelligent agent.
Thank you for your interest, though! I wish I could just reply with a link, but I don’t think the paper I would link to has been written yet.
I asked because that’s a reasonable one-line approximation of my own tentative theory of agency. I’m happy to hear that other people have similar intuitions! Alas that there isn’t a fleshed out paper I can go read. Do you have any… nonreputable sources to link me to, that I might benefit from reading?