A proposed way to visualize a continuum of agency which frames the problem in a way that is testable and drives empirical progress: to what level of control is any given system amenable to persuasion given the sophistication of its cognitive apparatus? pdf 
figure 2.
This page is a Forage.
On the far left are the simplest physical systems, e.g., mechanical clocks (A). These cannot be persuaded, only physical hardware-level “rewiring” is possible if one wants to change their behavior. On the far right (D) are human beings whose behavior can be radically changed by a communication that encodes a rational argument that changes the motivation, planning, values, and commitment.
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Technological Approach to Mind Everywhere: An Experimentally-Grounded Framework for Understanding Diverse Bodies and Minds. -- Michael Levin