Herein, agency is a living thing's inherent ability and capacity "to do" in a context.
- In specifics, agency varies (among living things) in terms of ability.
- For example, most birds have the agency to fly (in the air) while humans must be propelled by an external application of force (to fly in the air).
- In specifics, agency varies (among living things with similar abilities) in terms of capacity.
- For example, both the artic tern and the peacock have the ability to fly. However, the artic tern can fly much longer distance than the peacock.
- In specifics, the agency of an individual living thing can vary by context.
- For example, a bird can no longer fly if it is ensnared.
Machines (including computers) do not have agency.
- A machine is artifice
(as opposed to being natural)
- Machines are not alive; they are not living things
- Only in a figurative (metaphoric) sense can a machine start, idle, run, stop, think, solve problems, et cetera.
Texts and words do not have agency (see The Willful Reader).
In the context of writing, agency is essential to defining the three (general) scenarios of writing.
In writing-to-self, the agency of the writer is sufficient to perform all actions critical to this scenario:
In the writing-to-others scenario, the writer is typically lacks the agency and/or social authority to:
- acheive the desired consequence.
In writing-for-others, the writer's agency is subordinate to the social authority of another. It is SOMEONE OTHER THAN THE WRITER who is doing (one or more of ) the actions critical to this scenario:
- desiring a specific consequence (for a particular instance
of writing),
- constructing a writing challenge (for a particular instance
of writing),
- choosing a target audience (for a particular instance
of writing), and
- acheiving the desired consequence.
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