Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:04 — 47.7MB)
Wes, Dylan, and guest Chris Heath continue to discuss The Evolution of Agency (2022) in light of our interview with the author in part one.
We relate examples from the book of animals of various levels of complexity making deliberative decisions, exhibiting rationality, experiencing causality, or otherwise engaging in agentive or proto-agentive behaviors. One particularly interesting concept in here is the idea of collective social agency, where the feedback loops supporting complex action utilize multiple individuals, as when pack hunting animals, despite appearances, do not actually collaborate with each other but instead use each other to hunt more effectively as individuals.
Next Episode: We’re discussing Harry Frankfurt’s “On Bullshit” (1986) and “The Importance of What We Care About” (1982).
Leave a Reply