the products of his hereditary traits and his past experience, cumulatively wrought out under a given body of traditions conventionalities, and material circumstances; and they afford the point of departure for the next step in the process. The economic life history of the individual is a cumulative process of adaptation of means to ends that cumulatively change as the process goes on, both the agent and his environment being at any point the outcome of the last process." Evolutionary economics also provides criticisms of the Rational Agent, citing the "parental bent" (the idea that biological impulses can and do frequently override rational decision making based on utility). Arguments against rational agency have also cited the enormous influence of marketing as proof that humans can be persuaded to make economic decisions that are "non-rational" in nature. Alternate theories Neuroeconomics is a concept that uses neuroscience, social psychology and other fields of science to better understand how people make decisions. Unlike rational agent theory, neuroeconomics does not attempt to predict large-scale human behavior but rather how individuals make decisions in case-by-case scenarios. Artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence has borrowed the term "rational agents" from economics to describe autonomous programs that are capable of goal directed behavior. Today there is a considerable overlap between AI research, game theory and decision theory. Rational agents in AI are closely related to intelligent agents, autonomous software programs that display intelligence. See also Economics Agent (economics) Homo economicus TOTREP Software Intelligent agent Software agent References Economics and game theory Artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence Concepts in ethics Concepts in the philosophy of mind Game theory Neoclassical economics Philosophical concepts Reasoning Management theory