Dear Krassimir, In agreement or partial agreement with most responses, I see the kernel of agency as autocatalysis, by virtue of the centripetality that dynamic engenders.
Autocatalysis is a subset of feedbacks wherein each link in a loop benefits the next member. It is easy to show that such action selects for all perturbations that augment inputs to any member. That is, the loop acts like a vortex to draw resources into the autocatalytic orbit. (See p289 of <https://people.clas.ufl.edu/ulan/files/EncyEcol.pdf>, or better yet, pp70 73 in <https://people.clas.ufl.edu/ulan/publications/philosophy/3rdwindow/>.) Centripetality is a directional phenomenon that defines the self of any living being. It is ubiquitous to *all* living entities, but is hardly ever mentioned among the necessary attributes of life. Bertrand Russell called it chemical imperialism and cited it as the drive behind *all of evolution*. It is the generatrix of competition. No actor can compete at any level without centripetality at work at the next level down. Centripetality, the expression of agency, serves not only to change the environment of the organism, but does so in a way that sustains and imparts advantage to the self. Intelligence does not seem to be a necessary attribute of such agency. Greetings to all, Bob > Dear FIS Colleagues, > > After nice collaboration last weeks, a paper Called âData versus > Informationâ is prepared in very beginning draft variant and already is > sent to authors for refining. > Many thanks for fruitful work! > > What we have till now is the understanding that the information is some > more than data. > In other words: > d = r > i = r + e > where: > d => data; > i => information; > r => reflection; > e => something Else, internal for the Agent (subject, interpreter, > etc.). > > Simple question: What is âAgentâ? > > When an entity became an Agent? What is important to qualify the entity as > Agent or as an Intelligent Agent? What kind of agent is the cell? At the > end - does information exist for Agents or only for Intelligent Agents? > > Thesis: Information exists only for the Intelligent Agents. > > Antithesis: Information exists at all levels of Agents. > > Friendly greetings > Krassimir > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Fis mailing list > Fis@listas.unizar.es > http://listas.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis > _______________________________________________ Fis mailing list Fis@listas.unizar.es http://listas.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis
