Distinguish from
Internal alignment
Appropriate goals, values, models, or skills inside the agent do not guarantee successful activity if the environment is a poor fit.
A lens
Ecological alignment
Does the relationship between the agent and its environment support competent, viable activity?
Alignment need not be located entirely inside an agent. The same goals, skills, and capacities can support very different behavior in different environments. Ecological alignment concerns the fit between what an agent can do and the world in which it is trying to do it.
Try seeing it
Sometimes competence belongs to the relationship.
A capable person can become ineffective in an environment that hides relevant information, blocks useful actions, supplies the wrong resources, or demands capacities they do not possess.
Conversely, a well-structured environment can make difficult action easier by supplying tools, cues, paths, interfaces, and opportunities that complement the agent's abilities.
Distinguish from
Perceptual alignment
Perceptual alignment asks what becomes actionable or relevant to the system. Ecological alignment asks more broadly whether the entire agent-environment relationship supports competent activity.
Look for
Reciprocal construction
Agents do not merely adapt to environments. They rearrange tools, build structures, establish routines, create institutions, and otherwise alter the conditions under which they will act next.
A question to carry elsewhere