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notsonewuser comments on To what degree do you model people as agents? - Less Wrong
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I aspire to model myself as the only "agent" in the system, kind of like Harry does in HPMOR (with the possible exception of Professor Quirrell). I'm the one whose behavior I can change most directly, so it is unhelpful (at least for me) to model circumstances (which can cause a dangerous victim mentality) or other people as agents. Even if I know I can make an argument to try to change another person's mind, and estimate I have a 50/50 chance of success, it is still me who is making the choice to use Argument A rather than Argument B.
In terms of an NPC/PC distinction, anyone whom I have the ability to reliably model accurately is an NPC to me, and the PC's are everyone else. Both have moral value to me, though people I consider PC's are obviously more interesting for me to hang out with. (Almost) Everyone's a PC to someone, though, so I definitely don't hold it against the people I consider NPCs.
For an example, I consider all three members of my immediate family (my younger sister, my father, and my mother) NPCs. They are all fervent evangelical Christians and that constrains their behaviors significantly. Nonetheless, spending time with them (well, sometimes) evokes positive emotions from me, and I happily do chores for them.
I imagine it is probably emotionally taxing and isolating for a human to model themselves as the only true agent in their world. That's a lot of responsibility, inefficient for big projects (where coordinating with other 'proper' agents might be particularly useful) and probably kinda lonely.
I am all for personal responsibility and recognise that acting to best improve the world is up to me. I am currently implemented in a great ape – a mammal with certain operating requirements. Part of my behaviour in the world has to include acting to keep that great ape working well.
To avoid exposing that silly ape with the emotional weight of the being the only responsible agent in the system and to allow more fun agent-agent interactions, it might make sense to lower the mental bar for those you would call PCs?
If I am the only agent in my circle of knowledge, I want to believe so.
Agreed. But I'd place more value on searching for other agents when I know none.
From this thread we can see there is not a fixed concept of what meets the agent criteria. If I knew zero other agents, I'd be more inclined to spend more effort searching or perhaps be a little more flexible with my interpretation of what an agent might be.
Of course tricking yourself into solipsism or Wilson worship is a conceivable failure mode, but I don't think it's likely here.