Other agents are not random though. Many agents act in predictable ways. I certainly don’t model the actions of people as random noise. In this sense I don’t think other agents are different from any other physical system that might be more-or-less chaotic, unpredictable or difficult to control.
I agree.
But AFAICT that doesn’t really change the conclusion that less agents would tend to make the world more predictable/controllable. As you say yourself:
I don’t think other agents are different from any other physical system that might be more-or-less chaotic, unpredictable or difficult to control.
And that was the weaker of the two apparent problems. What about the {implied self-preservation and resource acquisition} part?
Other agents are not random though. Many agents act in predictable ways. I certainly don’t model the actions of people as random noise. In this sense I don’t think other agents are different from any other physical system that might be more-or-less chaotic, unpredictable or difficult to control.
I agree. But AFAICT that doesn’t really change the conclusion that less agents would tend to make the world more predictable/controllable. As you say yourself:
And that was the weaker of the two apparent problems. What about the {implied self-preservation and resource acquisition} part?