Agent Components and the Emergence of Altruism in Social Interaction Networks

We discuss a special aspect of agents placed in a social network. If an agent can be seen as comprising many components, the expressions and interactions among these components may be crucial. We discuss the role of patterns within the environment as a mode of expression of these components. The stability and identity of an agent is derived as a function of component and component-pattern identity. The agent is then placed in a specific social network within the environment, and the enigmatic case of altruism is explained in terms of interacting component identities.