[xpe]

> I reacted negatively to the idea earlier that agency should be considered an aspect of intelligence.

In the hopes of clarifying any misunderstandings of what I mean... I said "agent" in Russell's sense -- a system with goals that has sensors and actuators in some environment. This is a common definition in CS and robotics. (I tend to shy away from using the word "agency" because sometimes it brings along meaning I'm not intending. For example, to many, the word "agency" suggests free will combined with the ability to do something with it.)

I recommend Russell to anyone willing to give him a try. I selected part of his writing that explains why his definition is important to his goals. From page 2 of https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~russell/papers/aij-cnt.pdf

> My own motivation for studying AI is to create and understand intelligence as a general property of systems, rather than as a specific attribute of humans. I believe this to be an appropriate goal for the field as a whole...