1.6 Agents and Agencies


None of the agents in an explanation can be intelligent. "Accordingly, whenever we find that an agent has to do anything complicated, we'll replace it with a subsociety of agents that do simpler things."

Critical point related to this is that organization -- the structured relationship among agents -- is critical. (NB: As in syntax -- "The butcher is a surgeon" vs. "The surgeon is a butcher".) "It is not enough to explain only what each separate agent does. We must also understand how those parts are interrelated -- that is, how groups of agents can accomplish things.

Bottom line: Agencies seem intelligent, but the agents from which they are constructed are not. "If you were to watch Buillder work, from the outside, with no idea of how it works inside, you'd have the impression that ifknows how to build towers. But if you could see Builder from the inside, you'd surely find no knowledge there. You would see northing more than a few switches, arranged in various ways to turn each other on and off." (NB: This is very reminiscent of the vehicles that Braitenberg describes in his book!).


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