Agency in natural and artificial systems

Area of Science:

• Systems Biology
• Artificial Intelligence
• Evolutionary Biology

Background:

• Natural autonomous systems exhibit agency through interconnected self-construction and environmental interaction.
• Sensorimotor activities in basic natural systems are intrinsically linked to metabolic processes and material transformations.
• Evolutionary pressures, particularly size increase and motility, lead to a decoupling of sensorimotor functions from metabolic bases.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the fundamental conditions for agency in both natural and artificial systems.
• To explore the organizational complexification leading to specialized sensorimotor systems.
• To investigate the feasibility of replicating natural agency in artificial systems and explore alternative organizing principles.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis of organizational principles in natural autonomous systems.
• Examination of evolutionary trends related to organism size and motility.
• Application of the natural agency framework to analyze artificial systems.

Main Results:

• Self-construction and environmental activity are unified in basic natural systems but diverge with evolutionary complexity.
• Decoupling of sensorimotor systems from metabolic bases signifies organizational complexification in motile organisms.
• The study poses key questions regarding the artificial construction of similar organizations and alternative grounding principles for agency.

Conclusions:

• Agency in natural systems evolves through a complexification process involving the specialization and decoupling of functional systems.
• Understanding natural agency provides a framework for evaluating and designing artificial systems.
• Further research is needed to determine if artificial agency can mirror natural forms or be based on novel organizational principles.