Agency of Non-Human

Can Agency of Non-Human Exist

Introduction

Psychologists and neuroscientists have done a variety of researches in the subject of agency of living things versus agency of nonliving things. Novella suggests that according to scholars, human's brains function in a manner that they can easily distinguish between living and nonliving things prevailing in our environment. In psychology being alive has a different meaning than what it means in subject of medicine or science. Psychologists refer that being alive means existence of an agency. Agency has a property of acting according to its own will. Additionally, it gives rise to some type of reaction or action. It can make things happen in the environment. We can easily analyze that the above mentioned properties are that of a living thing. On the other hand, our brains function in such a manner that, they can easily find such elements in nonliving thing and consider it as an agency like living things. Nonliving things can also act in the environment and cause things to happen. This essay will cover the detailed analysis of agency of non-human things and how different agencies of nonliving things can affect living things. Agencies of socialization like media, text, television etc., can make things happen in our environment and have a deep impact on all of us. According to Verbeek technology in terms of tools, machinery, processes should not be analyzed in isolation. Its importance lies in relation to its function with human beings. The purpose that it serves provides a deeper meaning to technology and define its true essence in the lives of human (Verbeek, 2005, pp.9) agents. These agents can have different effects on humans in the context of security, attachment and conduct.

Discussion

Agency of Non-Human Things

Agency of things or non-human things means something that is nonliving thing but has the quality to arouse some type of reaction or action in the environment. It can change or make things happen by reacting with living things. Our social environment is a network that consists of both types of agents, living and nonliving. Nonliving agencies are meaningless without living thing agencies. Actor Network theory further explains this concept in detail. This theory was initiated by two French Scholars, Latour and Callon when they were trying to understand the processes of scientific innovations by Newton and Galileo. Actor Network Theory suggests that when Newton discovered gravity, he was not alone in the process. There were other nonliving agencies operating in the network that helped him through the entire process of discovery. Additionally, they explained that when Galileo went through the process of innovation, he was not isolated either. There was a variety of nonliving agents or factors working with him. His colleagues, previous experience, methodology, instruments and tools, processes, laboratory etc., all were non-human agents contributing to the process of discovery. These examples very clearly suggest that living agencies can never work in isolation. There is always some type of nonliving agency or agent affecting them (Learning theories knowledgebase, ...