Resent to FIS correct address ________________________________ De : Christophe Menant Envoyé : jeudi 19 octobre 2017 11:15 À : is Cc : Krassimir Markov Objet : RE: [Fis] What is “Agent”?
Dear FIS colleagues, Looking at defining agency is an interesting subject, somehow close to information and meaning. Thank you Krassimir for bringing it up. Let me propose here an approach based on what we can call ‘agents’ in our everyday life. This can highlight characteristics possibly leading to a definition.for agents. Based on laymen’s understanding of the world most of us would agree about items that can be considered as agents and items that cannot. Obviously, animals, humans and plants are agents (Natural Agents). Also, robots and most of our programmable builds up are agents (Artificial Agents). But stones, puddles, smokes (inert items) are not generally considered as agents (‘non-agents’). In terms of characteristics it is pretty obvious that both agents and non-agents obey physico-chemical laws that exist everywhere. But in contrast it is worth noticing that agents are local entities submitted to internal constraints. Natural Agents are submitted to ‘intrinsic constraints’ like ‘stay alive’ (individual & species) and ‘live group life’, with other specific constraints for humans. AAs are different as they have to satisfy ‘derived constraints’ coming from their designer. All these internal constraints are satisfied by actions implemented by the agents. These actions can be physical, biological or mental and take place in or out the agent. Inert items (non-agents) are not submitted to internal constraints and do not act for constraint satisfaction. Such characterization of agents as different from non-agents brings us to the following: Agents are local entities. Agents are submitted to internal constraints. Agents are capable of action for constraint satisfaction. This leads to a possible definition for an agent as being ‘an identifiable entity submitted to internal constraints and capable of actions for the satisfaction of the constraints’ (a more detailed presentation of that definition is available at https://philpapers.org/rec/MENCSA-2). Such definition of an agent focused on action for internal constraint satisfaction positions meaning generation at the core of agency (a meaning is generated as being the connection between received information and an internal constraint). And such relations between agency and meaning allow to look at some AI concerns in quite simple terms. Characterizing agents and meanings by intrinsic or derived constraints leads to positions on the Turing Test, on the Chinese Room Argument and on the Symbol Grounding Problem (short paper on subject at https://philpapers.org/rec/MENTTC-2). Best Christophe ________________________________ De : Fis <fis-boun...@listas.unizar.es> de la part de Krassimir Markov <mar...@foibg.com> Envoyé : dimanche 15 octobre 2017 23:27 À : Foundation of Information Science Objet : [Fis] What is “Agent”? Dear FIS Colleagues, After nice collaboration last weeks, a paper Called “Data versus Information” 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 “Agent”? 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 Info Page - unizar.es<http://listas.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis> listas.unizar.es The FIS initiative (Foundations of Information Science) started in 1994 with a first meeting in Madrid (organized by Michael Conrad and Pedro Marijuan), and was ...
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