1. A computer program product stored in one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, said computer program product comprising program instructions configured to cause a computer system to operate as an intelligent node in a distributed network, and to cause said computer system to provide: a communication engine for pulling or otherwise receiving user-configured software agent definitions into the intelligent node from elsewhere in the distributed network, each said software agent definition received as an information set specifying the types and numbers of software components to be instantiated from a predefined hierarchical software component toolset installed at said computer system, and each said software agent definition comprising corresponding component configuration parameter settings and hierarchical component linking information for configuring and hierarchically linking the specified software components for instantiation; a run-time environment configured to dynamically instantiate a given software agent by selecting, instantiating, configuring, and linking software components from the predefined library of software components in accordance with the corresponding software agent definition, wherein the software agents executing within the run-time environment define the distributed network behavior of the intelligent node and define the rules for advertising and sharing that distributed network behavior within the distributed network; and an application control module for controlling specified third-party applications installed on the computer system, and for enabling the software agents executing within the run-time environment to interact with the specified third-party applications.