Draft questionnaire for agency
Allikas: Lambda
The goal of this questionnaire is exploring how different people understand the meaning of the word "agency". Wikipedia says that "agency" is the capacity of an actor to act in a given environment, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agency_(philosophy) . The question of agency often comes up when discussing the philosophy of A.I. However, there is no exact or correct meaning of "agency": our questionnaire tries to understand how do different people give it a more concrete meaning. In other words, what is the "social meaning field" of the word. What do you think? Please select these answers to the following questions, which seem to be the closest to how you personally understand "agency". Observe there are several blocks of questions: please have a quick look at all the blocks before starting to answer the questions. The possible answers selectable for each question are given in a random order Background ------------ You are currently studying at a university: - Yes - No What is your main subject (either studies or otherwise): - Information technology - Natural sciences or mathematics - Engineering - Social sciences or economy - Humanities - Philosophy - Medicine - Other If you are studying, which year of studies is ongoing: - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 If you are student, please enter your student code, otherwise please enter some text (email, etc) which would differentiate you from other people. The point of this is to account for only one answer from each person and avoid robots answering: - textual input Have you spent some time (more than 10 minutes) on reading about the philosophical questions of agency: - Yes - No Questions about what has agency and what not --------------------------------------------- Only people have agency, but animals or non-living objects do not? - yes, people only - uncertain - no, other animals/objects may also have agency Only living beings have agency, but non-living objects or programs do not? - only people have agency - also animals and other living beings have agency - uncertain - no, non-living objects and / or programs may have agency Only some living beings (say, big animals) have agency, while some (say, plants or amoebas) do not? - only people have agency - some living beings have agency, while some others do not - uncertain - all living beings have agency Do large organizations of people like companies or states have agency? - No, organizations themselves do not have agency - Some large organizations of people have agency, but not all - uncertain - All large organizations of people have agency Programs may have agency, but non-living physical objects like chairs or computers do not? - Only people or perhaps other living beings have agency - Programs may have agency, but non-living physical objects do not - uncertain - no, both programs and non-living physical objects may have agency Programs may have agency while they are running on the computer? - Programs do not have any agency - Programs may have agency while they are running, but not otherwise - uncertain - Programs may have agency even while they are not running A computer has agency, regardless of whether it is currently running some specific program or not: - Computers do not have agency - Computers have agency - uncertain - Computers have agency only when running specific programs A computer might have agency in the future: - Computers cannot have agency even in the future - Some computers already have agency - uncertain - Current computers do not have agency, but might have in the future Comparing the "strength" of agency of different people ------------------------------------------------------- A very rich person has more agency than a poor person? - Most likely yes - Uncertain - No, the wealth does not change the agency A very clever person has more agency than a less clever person? - Most likely yes - Uncertain - No, cleverness does not change the agency A physically strong person has more agency than a physically weak person? - Most likely yes - Uncertain - No, physically strength does not change the agency A person having only a few similar ambitious goals has more agency than a person having many, varied and less ambitious goals? - The few-goal person has more - Uncertain - The varied-goal person has more What has more agency, a meditating and clever super-rich monk living in a cave the whole life without contacting other people, or a poor ordinary person living active life? - The super-rich monk has more - Uncertain - They have the same agency - The ordinary person living active life has more Comparing the "strength" of agency of non-people ------------------------------------------------ What has more agency, a tornado or a mountain? - None of them have any agency - The tornado has more - Uncertain - They have the same agency - The mountain has more What has more agency, a tornado or a grain of sand? - None of them have any agency - The tornado has more - Uncertain - They have the same agency - The grain of sand has more What has more agency, a chess programm using a random number generator in some parts or a chess program functioning without any randomness involved? - None of them have any agency - The random-incorporating one has more - Uncertain - They have the same agency - The deterministic one has more What has more agency, ChatGPT A.I. program or a world leading chess program? - None of them have any agency - The ChatGPT A.I. program has more - Uncertain - They have the same agency - The world leading chess program has more What has more agency, ChatGPT A.I. program or a tornado? - None of them have any agency - The ChatGPT A.I. program has more - Uncertain - They have the same agency - The tornado has more What has more agency, ChatGPT A.I. program or a single-cell amoeba? - None of them have any agency - The ChatGPT A.I. program has more - Uncertain - They have the same agency - The single-cell amoeba has more What has more agency, ChatGPT A.I. program or a mouse? - None of them have any agency - The ChatGPT A.I. program has more - Uncertain - They have the same agency - The mouse has more What has more agency, a scalpel used by a doctor or a road walked upon by a traveller? - None of them have any agency - The scalpel has more - Uncertain - They have the same agency - The road has more What has more agency: a volcano that shapes landscapes over millennia or a beaver that builds dams over its lifetime? - None of them have any agency - The volcano has more - Uncertain - They have the same agency - The beaver has more Which qualities are more important for agency --------------------------------------------- Is having goals important for estimating the level of agency: - Very important - Somewhat important - Uncertain - Not really important - Practically unimportant Is the ambition and effect or size of the goals of agent important for estimating the level of agency: - Very important - Somewhat important - Uncertain - Not really important - Practically unimportant Is the complexity and the number of available paths to the goal of agent important for estimating the level of agency: - Very important - Somewhat important - Uncertain - Not really important - Practically unimportant Is being alive important for important for estimating the level of agency (consider a single cell vs ChatGPT): - Very important - Somewhat important - Uncertain - Not really important - Practically unimportant Is willing to learn from mistakes important for important for estimating the level of agency: - Very important - Somewhat important - Uncertain - Not really important - Practically unimportant Is the speed of action important for important for estimating the level of agency: - Very important - Somewhat important - Uncertain - Not really important - Practically unimportant Is intellect important for important for estimating the level of agency: - Very important - Somewhat important - Uncertain - Not really important - Practically unimportant Is consciousness important for important for estimating the level of agency: - Very important - Somewhat important - Uncertain - Not really important - Practically unimportant Are the physical or social capacities important for important for estimating the level of agency: - Very important - Somewhat important - Uncertain - Not really important - Practically unimportant Feedback and additional comments or ideas ---------------------------------------- You have selected answers for all the questions? - Yes, I answered all the questions - No, I just pressed "save" but did not really choose answers - I did select answers for most questions, but not all. - I did select some answers, but did not select answers for most of the questions - Anti-robot answer 1: please do not select this - Anti-robot answer 2: please do not select this - Anti-robot answer 3: please do not select this - Anti-robot answer 4: please do not select this - Anti-robot answer 5: please do not select this - Anti-robot answer 6: please do not select this - Anti-robot answer 7: please do not select this An (optional) short comment on the questionnaire or agency:
