An evolutionary story of Agency

DIPC Seminars

Speaker

Álvaro Moreno
DIPC

When

2026/01/22
12:00

Place

DIPC Josebe Olarra Seminar Room

Host

Ricardo Díez Muiño

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In this talk I will explore the central role of agency in the history of life. Here, the term agency refers to the capacity of living organisms to act upon their environment and on other living beings through their own organization. Every organism can sense what happens around it and respond in ways that alter those conditions. In fact, life itself depends on action: living beings are complex, self-producing, and self-maintaining systems that exist far from equilibrium. To stay alive, they must constantly interact with their surroundings—obtaining food, avoiding harm, and reproducing. Because these actions are adjusted according to environmental cues, they can be described as goal-directed or purposeful.

The aim is to offer a novel perspective on the history of life, focusing on the role of agency. Evolutionary processes are not merely the outcome of random mutations and natural selection. They also reflect the active role of organisms, whose behaviors generate feedback loops that influence their environments and evolutionary futures. By tracing how agency evolved and diversified—from the simplest bacteria to plants and animals, the most complex agents— life has flourished on Earth through its remarkable ability to act, adapt, and innovate. Agency has taken many forms throughout life’s history. What organisms must do to survive varies widely depending on their size, mode of life, and ecological context.

Through diverse examples, I will illustrate how new ways of living have created the conditions for novel types of agency to arise. When these new forms of agency enhanced an organism’s survival or reproduction, they persisted and expanded, opening pathways to more integrated and sophisticated modes of life. Thus, the continuity of living systems is deeply tied to their capacity for agency. Yet, the differences in agency—its type, complexity, and scope— have profoundly influenced evolutionary trajectories. I will explain how new forms of agency have emerged during major evolutionary transitions and how they contributed to the increasing complexity of life.