Difference between revisions of "Agent"
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In a p2p context it is not advised to reduce ''agents'' or ''affiliates'' to ''users''.The term ''user'' is appropriate for centralised platforms (Facebook, Uber) where participants have no control over the platform, interact on terms set by the owner, and provide data in exchange for access. An ''agent'', by contrast, is an entity with agency, i.e. capacity to plan and take actions, to own its own data, and to participate in defining the rules of the system it operates within. | In a p2p context it is not advised to reduce ''agents'' or ''affiliates'' to ''users''.The term ''user'' is appropriate for centralised platforms (Facebook, Uber) where participants have no control over the platform, interact on terms set by the owner, and provide data in exchange for access. An ''agent'', by contrast, is an entity with agency, i.e. capacity to plan and take actions, to own its own data, and to participate in defining the rules of the system it operates within. | ||
Revision as of 19:41, 14 March 2026
Anything that can perform an action. Has agency, i.e. can also plan to take actions.
Agents can be individuals, groups, projects, networks. Agents can also be bots, machines (IoT)
Related to REA / NRP-CAS / NDO
Agent / Affiliate vs User
In a p2p context it is not advised to reduce agents or affiliates to users.The term user is appropriate for centralised platforms (Facebook, Uber) where participants have no control over the platform, interact on terms set by the owner, and provide data in exchange for access. An agent, by contrast, is an entity with agency, i.e. capacity to plan and take actions, to own its own data, and to participate in defining the rules of the system it operates within.
This is not merely semantic. The data model follows the ontology: a "user" has an account on a server that another party controls. On p2p infrastruture (ex. Holochain), an agent has a cryptographic key pair that they control, a source chain of their own actions that only they can append to, and relationships with other agents that are maintained on a shared DHT, not a shared database controlled by an operator. Holochain is the first infrastructure natively designed for agent-centric data models.
In the old REA / NRP-CAS language we have users and economic agents.
A user is linked to an account, it is credentials to access the NRP-CAS.
An economic agent can represent an individual, a project / venture, another network or even a traditional organization. Economic agents (or simply agents) ca be of various types: agent type.
Agent that contribute to processes are affiliates. Furthermore, affiliates have profiles, can form a digital identity, and that in the case of a NRP-CAS as a platform (server-client architecture) user is the credentials to access the platform.
We can say that resources are used in events by agents (hence REA).
User vs agent
The term user is used in the context of online centralized platforms such as Facebook or Twitter. The users in these contexts have no control over the platform, they are provided the platform as a service, in exchange of user data produced through interactions within the platform, which can be monetized elsewhere by the platform owners.
User also has a local connotation, as an agent within a specific application. Agent is used in a more generic sense that can transcend the local contexts.
In a p2p context it is not advised to reduce agents or affiliates to users.