[p2p-research] critical theory - actors/agents

[Tomas Rawlings]

It seems this email list has people on it with a much better grasp of 
critical theory than me.... so am I on the right track here?

Actor - Taking this from Actor-Network Theory, Latour remarks that it is 
not so much as a term referring to a source of action, but that which is 
enacted upon, thus playing a role – much like an actor on the stage. So 
actors are those entities that play a role within a network to help it 
become what it is.

Agent - An entity that is capable of having a more independent role than 
an Actor, is something that can enact it's own decisions - it is said to 
have Agency; Agency is a concept used in philosophy and sociology to 
refer to the capacity of an agent to act in a world.

http://blog.catbot.org/content/humantechnology-agents-and-actors

-- 
Tomas

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Tomas Rawlings
Development Director, FluffyLogic Development Ltd.
web: www.fluffylogic.net
tel: 0117 9442233 
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