The Agentic Loop: Three loops in a trench coat

(bobbytables.io)

46 points | by btables 6 hours ago ago

11 comments

  • tptacek an hour ago

    You can always find more loops if you want to write the next version of this post. Anything that runs software is a loop of instruction execution.

  • swyx 2 hours ago
    • jamestimmins 2 hours ago

      The issue I have with loops is that for truly complex work, where I care about building a generalized solution for a complex problem, the agents frequently reward hack and end up burning indefinitely without finishing until I step in.

      Curious how you're addressing this

    • btables 2 hours ago

      Totally. Earth's rotation is a loop too. We should count that.

      • ratelimitsteve an hour ago

        rotation and orbit, and technically the eccentricity in the axis as well

        • monocasa 24 minutes ago

          There's also at least the galactic orbit. There might be a very large scale orbit as well around the Great Attractor, but the jury's still bery much out on that one.

  • philipwhiuk 4 hours ago

    Aren't the loops the wrong way round in the diagram. The tightest loop is the inference loop, then the tool loop and then human loop?

    • btables 4 hours ago

      I think of them from the outside in, so that's why I illustrated it that way.

      • NitpickLawyer an hour ago

        Fascinating. I think it's the first time I've heard it put that way.

        For me it's more intuitive the other way around, as the "outer" loops increase in complexity (and can have additional separate loops running inside them). It also makes sense because you can always add more (meta) loops that way.

    • DonHopkins 3 hours ago

      You are absolutely correct. It's an i18n/l10n issue. They spin in the opposite direction in the other hemisphere.

      • saghm 2 minutes ago

        Oh no, what happens when I flush my agents from one hemisphere down the toilet in the other then?