I think that a coherent definition to what agency is, is ambiguous, as simply put, it can be the “dozens” of things that are happening after a simple action. An action could be searching something in google, following someone on a social media, etc.; agency can be anything that involves submitting an action towards the “gain” of something else. Whereas searching something goes through many process (infrastructure,) and within those processes, data is found and collected about the user, such as the user’s name, age, location, interests, etc. However, agency is not just one entity, it involves the individual pursuing the action, and the action that is being pursued. Within instagram, agency cannot exist without the user who is interacting with the app. Now, what happens when technology advances to where agency can occur without the individual? Then, technology will inherently exist outside hands of “man”. Agency is an important component of today’s technology, however as long as technology continues to advance, the individual will no longer be important to agency, as agency and technology will be able to concordantly exist without the individual. In movies like Wall-E, where technology has advanced so much to the point where humans are reliant over it, technology is seen to exist outside of human control. This advance makes technology almost like a drug, such that the existence of humans now lie in the control of technology, much like the existence of endangered animals lie in the control of humans today. Generally, agency is a fundamental part of technology, however it may be dangerous for agency to exist outside of human control.
2 thoughts on “Abby Bangs-Agency”
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The example of Wall-E that you bring up is really interesting. I think the primary antagonist of that movie becomes that the technology evolves into human emotions and therefore wishes to take control. This is the fear seen across many dystopian themes with technology that the technology itself will gain the complexity of human emotions and then act as humans. Wall-E is a good example of this as the technology gains an agency outside of human interaction and the infrastructure is no longer dependent on humans. Thus, they no longer are supporting humans but besides them. This is a constant fear among the general population.
The way you describe agency makes it similar to data, infrastructure, and networks in that it cannot exist outside of user interactions with it. Agents essentially serve to make life easier or to connect users with data or networks in some way. In this way of thinking, agents would be part of the infrastructure of social media apps like Instagram and search engines like Google. I thought what you said about how agents involve both “the individual pursuing the action and the action that is being pursued” was a great way to encompass the entirety of this idea, and really helped me understand it better.