Table of Contents

One of the MAP terms

AgentSpace (MAP term)

See AgentSpace in the Glossary, where it is defined as

a membrane-bound social space where Agents interact, co-create, and participate in regenerative value flows.

Commentary

aSimonG: Defining it as “membrane-bound” probably brings up the image of a cell, and that's not wrong, as an AgentSpace can appear like a cell in a larger organism. Two potential terminology problems here:

  1. the MAP counts an organism as also an AgentSpace, but we don't think of an organism as a cell. Indeed, according to the MAP, a social organism is an AgentSpace with a certain amount of coherence;
  2. if we're not really talking about a space, but the contents of that space, bounded by its membrane — would “space” be giving the right impression?

So what word could we use instead, to convey the meaning that it isn't just a space – like an empty space – but it is something that (you could say) is “living”? We already have that term: Agent, providing that we separate that in meaning from AgentSpace.

Social units also have their own AgentSpace, not just biological units. In fact, any unit at all, that has a “membrane” — some boundary or enclosing structure so you can tell what is inside and what is outside that boundary. The unit has its own AgentSpace, rather than the unit being an AgentSpace.

Not every AgentSpace is itself an Agent

Well, exactly! Every AgentSpace is potentially a container for interaction or coordination (etc.), but if we hold the concept of Agent and AgentSpace clearly separate (as I would suggest) then this is not an issue. No AgentSpace is an Agent; but the contents of some AgentSpaces have agency and act as Agents, while the contents of other AgentSpaces do not have that quality of agency, and therefore should not be counted as Agents in their own right.

For a more extensive treatment, see the commentary on space.

see also