Peter G. Stillmann wrote:   
> when a country goes to war, do we still conceptualize it   
> as individuals acting, or is that a case when countries   
> act?   
  
  
When an individual goes to war, do we still conceptualize it   
as cells acting, or is it a case when individuals act?  
  
Despite an abortive mid-century attraction to behaviorism,  
economists remain oddly comfortable implying that  
individual action is somehow decoupled from the laws of  
the physical universe.  
  
Almost surely someone who never read Freud *and* never   
interacted with artificial intelligence *and* was never   
chased by a mosquito will now be tempted to object that for   
there to be action there must be (not that we could ever   
observe it!) a consciousness holding an intention to act.  
I hope his/her action will be (unobserved) resistance of   
this impulse, despite the identification problem this   
creates.  
  
We talk of action when we find it useful.  
We find it useful when such talk  
helps us anticipate/understand outcomes.  
  
Cheers,  
Alan Isaac