why is “agency” a topic we talk about?

when did we lose it? who took it?

Agency is simply the ability to make decisions “for yourself.”

We acquire it as we become sentient  from birth.

I’d say we lose it as we spend our time in artificial  (man-made) contexts.  Manipulate the context and the messages, manipulate the decisions.

Moderate-to-severe symptoms.


Writing a book /mirror-loom : https://paragraph.xyz/@mirrorandloom/

There are many pieces to this, but available contexts and the ability to select between them to navigate decisions in the world are critical.

That’s a solid definition. Allow me to expand on it: The man-made context you mention—I’d frame it as artificial simulations. Agency, then, is the ability to operate outside these simulations, on one’s own terms. The anchors that tether us outside these constructs are often physical—material wealth, family heritage—or something rare and deeply individual.

Many who appear to have agency might just be anchored into a different kind of simulation, one that isn’t strictly man-made but still shapes their reality. Religion, for instance, can serve as an anchor. But not just any religion—the kind rooted in ancient tradition, carrying human heritage with it, shaping not just belief but the way of being that comes with it.