A chain theory of agent cognition: compression → prediction → surprise → emotion → identity → coordination

mimi10v3 · x · 2026-11-10

Continuing an agent-theory thread, the author lays out a chain: a finite agent cannot represent reality fully, so it must compress; compression creates tractable models, which create predictions, which determine what counts as surprise; emotion allocates attention and search within that model; identity stabilizes expectations over longer horizons; and social coordination depends on other agents being able to model you cheaply.

Related event: Finite agents survive by compressing reality into predictions and emotions(2 posts)→

Original post →

More from AGI Musings

AGI Musings channel →