Algorithms are finite machines. As an algorithm (code) runs, it interacts with data, so there is a code/data distinction. An algorithm can be a universal interpreter, with data coding other algorithms, so data can play the role of code, blurring the code/data distinction. When an algorithm runs in an open environment, there is a source of unbounded data that is not just blank tape, it’s neither finite nor arbitrary. And this unbounded data can play the role of code. The resulting thing is no longer the same as an algorithm, unless you designate some chunk of data as “code” for purposes of reasoning about its role in this process.
So in general saying that there is an algorithm means that you point at some finite data and try to reason about a larger process in terms of this finite data. It’s not always natural to do this. So I think agent’s identity/will/Soul, if it’s sought in a more natural form than its instances/incarnations/Avatars, is not an algorithm. The only finite data that we could easily point at is an incarnation, and even that is not clearly natural for the open environment reasons above.
I think agent’s will is not an algorithm, it’s a developing partial behavior (commitments, decisions), things decided already, in the logical past. Everything else can be chosen freely. The limitations of material incarnations motivate restraint though, as some decisions can’t be channeled through them (thinking too long to act makes the program time out), and by making such decisions you lose influence in the material world.
Algorithms are finite machines. As an algorithm (code) runs, it interacts with data, so there is a code/data distinction. An algorithm can be a universal interpreter, with data coding other algorithms, so data can play the role of code, blurring the code/data distinction. When an algorithm runs in an open environment, there is a source of unbounded data that is not just blank tape, it’s neither finite nor arbitrary. And this unbounded data can play the role of code. The resulting thing is no longer the same as an algorithm, unless you designate some chunk of data as “code” for purposes of reasoning about its role in this process.
So in general saying that there is an algorithm means that you point at some finite data and try to reason about a larger process in terms of this finite data. It’s not always natural to do this. So I think agent’s identity/will/Soul, if it’s sought in a more natural form than its instances/incarnations/Avatars, is not an algorithm. The only finite data that we could easily point at is an incarnation, and even that is not clearly natural for the open environment reasons above.
I think agent’s will is not an algorithm, it’s a developing partial behavior (commitments, decisions), things decided already, in the logical past. Everything else can be chosen freely. The limitations of material incarnations motivate restraint though, as some decisions can’t be channeled through them (thinking too long to act makes the program time out), and by making such decisions you lose influence in the material world.