However, the reference class that includes the theory of computation is one possible reference class that might include the theory of agents.[1] But for all (I think) we know, the reference class we are in might also be (or look more like) complex systems studies, where you can prove a bunch of neat things, but there’s also a lot of behavior that is not computationally reducible and instead you need to observe, simulate, crunch the numbers. Moreover, noticing surprising real-world phenomena can serve as a guide to your attempts to explain the observed phenomena in ~mathematical terms (e.g., how West et al. explained (or re-derived) Kleiber’s law from the properties of intra-organismal resource supply networks[2]). I don’t know what the theory will look like; to me, its shape remains an open a posteriori question.
along an axis somewhat different than the main focus here, i think the right picture is: there is a rich field of thinking-studies. it’s like philosophy, math, or engineering. it includes eg Chomsky’s work on syntax, Turing’s work on computation, Gödel’s work on logic, Wittgenstein’s work on language, Darwin’s work on evolution, Hegel’s work on development, Pascal’s work on probability, and very many more past things and very many more still mostly hard-to-imagine future things. given this, i think asking about the character of a “theory of agents” would already soft-assume a wrong answer. i discuss this here
i guess a vibe i’m trying to communicate is: we already have thinking-studies in front of us, and so we can look at it and get a sense of what it’s like. of course, thinking-studies will develop in the future, but its development isn’t going to look like some sort of mysterious new final theory/science being created (though there will be methodological development (like for example the development of set-theoretic foundations in mathematics, or like the adoption of statistics in medical science), and many new crazy branches will be developed (of various characters), and we will surely ≈resolve various particular questions in various ways (though various other questions call for infinite investigations))
along an axis somewhat different than the main focus here, i think the right picture is: there is a rich field of thinking-studies. it’s like philosophy, math, or engineering. it includes eg Chomsky’s work on syntax, Turing’s work on computation, Gödel’s work on logic, Wittgenstein’s work on language, Darwin’s work on evolution, Hegel’s work on development, Pascal’s work on probability, and very many more past things and very many more still mostly hard-to-imagine future things. given this, i think asking about the character of a “theory of agents” would already soft-assume a wrong answer. i discuss this here
i guess a vibe i’m trying to communicate is: we already have thinking-studies in front of us, and so we can look at it and get a sense of what it’s like. of course, thinking-studies will develop in the future, but its development isn’t going to look like some sort of mysterious new final theory/science being created (though there will be methodological development (like for example the development of set-theoretic foundations in mathematics, or like the adoption of statistics in medical science), and many new crazy branches will be developed (of various characters), and we will surely ≈resolve various particular questions in various ways (though various other questions call for infinite investigations))