# AI and agents

*Emergence, alignment as architecture, and what happens when the players are no longer human.*

![Society](/figures/society.svg)![Society](/figures/society-dark.svg)

Topic · Society

Emergence, alignment as architecture, and what happens when the players are no longer human.

3 pieces

-   **Essay** Oct 17, 2026 [Every mind has a material cause](/writing/every-mind-has-a-material-cause)
    
    Samkhya says the effect pre-exists in the cause, the substrate is inert, and discernment comes before the self. Read as a design note for AGI, it says most of our alignment vocabulary is pointed at the potter and the clay decides more.
    
    [Yoga and the mind](/topics/mind) [Science and technology](/topics/science)
    
-   **Essay** Oct 10, 2026 [Simple rules, whole societies](/writing/simple-rules-whole-societies)
    
    Three local rules give you a murmuration. Slightly different rules give you a stampede. The rules between agents deserve the same care as the capabilities inside them.
    
    [Mathematics](/topics/mathematics) [Optimization](/topics/optimization)
    
-   **Nyāya** Apr 21, 2024 [Where there is smoke](/darsana/nyaya)
    
    The school of how we know and how we argue: four roads to knowledge, one shape for every inference, and a complete catalogue of the ways a losing opponent cheats.
    
    [Philosophy](/topics/philosophy) [Mathematics](/topics/mathematics)
    

Other topics

-    [![Mandelbrot](/figures/mandelbrot.svg)![Mandelbrot](/figures/mandelbrot-dark.svg) Mathematics](/topics/mathematics)
-    [![Descent](/figures/descent.svg)![Descent](/figures/descent-dark.svg) Optimization](/topics/optimization)
-    [![Phyllotaxis](/figures/phyllotaxis.svg)![Phyllotaxis](/figures/phyllotaxis-dark.svg) Beauty](/topics/beauty)
-    [![A tree](/figures/tree.svg)![A tree](/figures/tree-dark.svg) Philosophy](/topics/philosophy)
-    [![Stillness](/figures/stillness.svg)![Stillness](/figures/stillness-dark.svg) Yoga and the mind](/topics/mind)
-    [![Interference](/figures/interference.svg)![Interference](/figures/interference-dark.svg) Science and technology](/topics/science)
-    [![Knight's tour](/figures/tour.svg)![Knight's tour](/figures/tour-dark.svg) Chitrakāvya](/topics/chitrakavya)
-    [![A walk](/figures/walk.svg)![A walk](/figures/walk-dark.svg) The human experience](/topics/human)

---

https://emergence.live/topics/agents