CASHExNYAIxAIWSNYxGAIN:From Fragments To Agents - Scenarios Discussion

From Fragments to Agents: A Scenario-Based Discussion on the Emergence of Agency

This is not a lecture. Our Friday joint session brings together 4 of our main groups for a lightly guided, open-format discussion. We’ll kick off with a brief intro and framing, then move into a scenario-based exploration of a central question:

How do fragments become agents?
How does optimization give rise to systems that strive—to survive, to grow, to persist?

Each group will be exploring this theme in more depth over the coming weeks through talks and rich content pages, which will be shared via web links for those who’d like to dive deeper.

But this session is something different.

We’ll be using a set of thought-provoking scenarios—designed as intuition pumps—to explore how agency arises in biology, technology, business, and beyond.

Preview scenarios might include:

• A single-celled organism adapting to hostile terrain—what makes it more than just a chemical reaction?
• A language model learning to game its training metrics—has it become an optimizer in its own right?
• A startup that pivots repeatedly in search of product-market fit—who or what is the agent navigating survival here?

Bring your own:
Participants are encouraged to come up with their own short scenarios or thought experiments on how fragments become agents. You can post them in the comments ahead of time or bring them into the session live.

No prep needed—just curiosity, and a willingness to think deeply.
Some of the concepts we’ll explore are often taken for granted or left underexamined, but they deserve more. In conversations like these, curiosity often matters more than prior knowledge.