The value of value: A quantum approach to economics, security and international relations

Abstract

Money objects, from coins to bitcoins, are used in economic exchange as a way of putting a number on the fuzzy concept of worth or value. They are inherently dualistic in that they combine the properties of abstract numbers with the properties of owned objects. As a result of this duality at its core, the money system exhibits the properties of a macroscopic quantum system, including entanglement, indeterminacy and interference, with money objects playing a special role as a measurement device. This article argues that, by virtue of its dualistic nature, money acts as a vector of transmission that scales up the properties of quantum mind to the global level. By bringing money back into the picture and providing an alternative to the mechanistic vision of mainstream economics, quantum social science promises to change the way we see and treat the economy, with implications for international relations and security.