🧬 Part 1: How Fragments Become Biological and Cultural Agents

🧬 Part 1: How Fragments Become Biological and Cultural Agents
A Deep Dive in the “Fragments to Agents” Series

This is the first in a multi-part series exploring a central question at the heart of life, intelligence, and emergence:
How do fragments become agents?

In this session, we’ll focus on the biological and cultural dimensions of this transformation. We’ll look at how molecules become metabolism, how cells become selves, and how stories, tools, and shared meaning shape the emergence of social agents, institutions, and cultures.

We’ll explore questions like:

• What makes a system biologically autonomous rather than just chemically reactive?
• How do genes, bodies, and environments co-create adaptive behavior?
• How do symbolic systems like language and myth turn individuals into cultural agents?
• How do companies, economies, and markets emerge from scattered fragments of human activity and exchange?

We’ll draw from the work of Darwin, Terrence Deacon, Adam Smith, Nassim Taleb, and others—blending insights from biology, anthropology, and economics to better understand how agency arises and evolves.

This event is open to all groups, but the core emphasis will be on themes most relevant to our biology and culture-focused members.
Future sessions will explore computational, technological, and philosophical dimensions—especially AI and optimization theory—through other group lenses.

Format:

• Substantial presentation
• Deep open discussion
• Optional shared resources to explore further

Whether you’re into systems theory, evolution, social dynamics, or simply curious—this session offers both structure and space to think deeply about one of the most fundamental transformations in nature and society.