Related papers: Agency in Physics
Agency is widely characterized as the capacity of a system to regulate its internal states toward self-generated goals, yet characterizing the functional basis of this autonomy requires a distinction between the system's own organization…
Nature can be seen as informational structure with computational dynamics (info-computationalism), where an (info-computational) agent is needed for the potential information of the world to actualize. Starting from the definition of…
Despite the wide usage of information as a concept in science, we have yet to develop a clear & concise scientific definition. This paper is aimed at laying the foundations for a new theory concerning the mechanics of information alongside…
To operate reliably under changing conditions, complex systems require feedback on how effectively they use resources, not just whether objectives are met. Current AI systems process vast information to produce sophisticated predictions,…
Agency is a system's capacity to steer outcomes toward a goal, and is a central topic of study across biology, philosophy, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence. Determining if a system exhibits agency is a notoriously difficult…
We adopt a top-down approach to agency aimed at developing a minimalist, scalable and naturalized account of it. After providing a general definition, we explore some possible extensions and refinements, domain of applicability, as well as…
According to Dennett, the same system may be described using a `physical' (mechanical) explanatory stance, or using an `intentional' (belief- and goal-based) explanatory stance. Humans tend to find the physical stance more helpful for…
In goal-directed behavior, a large number of possible initial states end up in the pursued goal. The accompanying information loss implies that goal-oriented behavior is in one-to-one correspondence with an open subsystem whose entropy…
As intelligent systems are developed across diverse substrates - from machine learning models and neuromorphic hardware to in vitro neural cultures - understanding what gives a system agency has become increasingly important. Existing…
In a social group its members are caled here agents. Any two agents from the group may interact. The interaction consists of the exchange of information and it costs some energy. There exist subgroups of interacting agents which are…
We show that the way in which the Shannon entropy of sequences produced by an information source converges to the source's entropy rate can be used to monitor how an intelligent agent builds and effectively uses a predictive model of its…
What makes a society possible at all? How is coordination and cooperation in social activity possible? What is the minimal mental architecture of a social agent? How is the information about the state of the world related to the agents…
We review of the interface between (theoretical) physics and information for non-experts. The origin of information as related to the notion of entropy is described, first in the context of thermodynamics then in the context of statistical…
Agent-based models have emerged as a promising paradigm for addressing ever increasing complexity of information systems. In its initial days in the 1990s when object-oriented modeling was at its peak, an agent was treated as a special kind…
This essay discusses the advantages of a probabilistic agent-based approach to questions in theoretical economics, from the nature of economic agents, to the nature of the equilibria supported by their interactions. One idea we propose is…
The role of perception in conscious behavior and decision-making is examined. The effect of spatial and temporal stochasticity in the acquisition of beliefs is discussed. The idea of an agent as a locally strongly coupled group of states…
Informational entropy is often identified as physical entropy. This is surprising because the two quantities are differently defined and furthermore the former is a subjective quantity while the latter is an objective one. We describe the…
Agents are minimally entities that are influenced by their past observations and act to influence future observations. This latter capacity is captured by empowerment, which has served as a vital framing concept across artificial…
We develop information theory for the temporal behavior of memoryful agents moving through complex -- structured, stochastic -- environments. We introduce and explore information processes -- stochastic processes produced by cognitive…
Agent based systems are more common than we may think. A Promise Theory perspective on cooperation, in systems of human-machine agents, offers a unified perspective on organization and functional design with semi-automated efforts, in terms…