Collective Agent Foundations

When does a collection of things become an agent with its own goals? We can watch it happen — cells rebuilding limbs, ant colonies optimising routes, markets developing "beliefs" — but we can't yet explain it, predict it, or say what makes it robust versus fragile. 

This sequence explores that question as AI systems join human collectives at scale, bringing together mathematical tools from fields that have each been studying pieces of the puzzle without talking to each other.