normative

The term agent imports misleading anthropomorphic baggage

Calling the fundamental units of consciousness 'agents' is unnecessary and misleading because it sounds anthropomorphic and smuggles in notions like free will and selfhood that many neuroscientists regard as illusions; neutral terms like 'conscious unit', 'connection', or 'relationship' better fit a fundamental level where causality and free will do not apply.

normativepending

Speaker

Annaka Harris

Evidence Quote

i'm really challenging you on using this term agent because it seems to me to be introducing a lot of unnecessarily complicated ideas and assumptions about what that thing is

Source

178 - The Reality IllusionMaking Sense with Sam Harris
Created: 6/14/2026, 2:09:34 AM

My Notes

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