The Life of Agents in Environments

There is an ancient divide that separates phenomena into two groups: agents and environments. Agents are capable of independent action, either internally (engagement) or externally (change). The environment is the broader context that contains only passive phenomena. The defining feature of agents is intelligence, which is the ability to engage with or change the environment, controlling for scaling potential (extraneous factors). Agents have a persistent need to increase their agency, called scaling intelligence, which is constrained by scaling ceilings (environmental limitations) and scaling inevitabilities (traits that must emerge to overcome those ceilings). Together, we find ourselves in the middle of this ancient, cosmic dance of agents and environments.