To be agentic requires an agent that has parts that are included in it and an outside, the environment, that is acted on. Also, the agent needs to persist over time. Thus it has to be a replicator. I’m not sure you can have agents that are no replicators or replicators that are not agentic/control (parts of) their environment. When we say replicator, we focus on the replicating machinery, and when we talk about an agent, we focus on the control of the environment. But it’s two sides of the coin, maybe even a formal dual can be discovered.
All existing agents are evolved replicators which means that all their agency is focused on replication: Their replication, the replication of other coevolved agents, and the replication of non-agentic parts of the environment. There will be more or less accidental complexity (accidental in relation to the selection pressure of evolution; maybe a better term would be unforced structure).
the type of agency I’m mainly interested in is the type of agency that have other goals than just self replication
The “just” does a lot of work in that sentence. I think it can only refer to unforced structures. As humans, we care about that—but “caring” is to the larger part supporting replication.
To be agentic requires an agent that has parts that are included in it and an outside, the environment, that is acted on. Also, the agent needs to persist over time. Thus it has to be a replicator. I’m not sure you can have agents that are no replicators or replicators that are not agentic/control (parts of) their environment. When we say replicator, we focus on the replicating machinery, and when we talk about an agent, we focus on the control of the environment. But it’s two sides of the coin, maybe even a formal dual can be discovered.
All existing agents are evolved replicators which means that all their agency is focused on replication: Their replication, the replication of other coevolved agents, and the replication of non-agentic parts of the environment. There will be more or less accidental complexity (accidental in relation to the selection pressure of evolution; maybe a better term would be unforced structure).
The “just” does a lot of work in that sentence. I think it can only refer to unforced structures. As humans, we care about that—but “caring” is to the larger part supporting replication.