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Composite Agency

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Semiotic Agency

Part of the book series: Biosemiotics ((BSEM,volume 25))

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Abstract

In this chapter we argue that the multiplicity of subagents is a typical feature of agency which is necessary for a higher-level agent’s reliable self-construction, robustness, and adaptability. The composite organization allows for a dialectic balance between interests and functions of the whole and its parts. We argue that subagents are semi-autonomous and coexist in a partially cooperative, partially antagonistic unity that evolves over time. They generate adaptive variations of structures and functions that help organisms to improve performance and/or survive severe environmental changes. Subagents interact at both physiological and evolutionary time scales. One interaction strategy is guiding semiogenesis, which happens when one subagent provides scaffolding that facilitates, represses, or re-directs the evolution or learning of another subagent . Composite agents emerge either via integration of homogenous components, i.e. reproduction of identical low-level agents without separation followed by specialization, or symbiogenesis, i.e. integration of diverse low-level agents into a symbiotic community followed by co-adaptation. The long-term future fate of specific composite agents is fundamentally uncertain, and this gives rise to a “mixed identity”. In some cases, agents can acquire subagents (e.g., genes or symbionts) from other organisms. Some subagents may break free, infect other agents, or kill their host organism .

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Strand is a single chain of nucleotides in DNA, whereas the DNA helix (in a chromosome) is formed by two reverse-complementary strands of DNA bound to each other like two sides of a ladder.

  2. 2.

    See also Chap. 8.

  3. 3.

    See Chap. 4 for discussion of the origin of life.

  4. 4.

    For instance, Gödel sentences in a formal system are observed as true but cannot be deduced from axioms (Baas & Emmeche, 1997).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ste 100, National Inst on Aging, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Alexei Sharov

  2. Department of Social Studies, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway

    Morten Tønnessen

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  1. Alexei Sharov
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Sharov, A., Tønnessen, M. (2021). Composite Agency. In: Semiotic Agency. Biosemiotics, vol 25. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89484-9_10

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