Intentional quantum dynamics: Entangling choices and goals

Abstract

An unresolved problem in psychology is prospective control, i.e., the question of how information about what is intended to be done can influence what is being done [22]. Over the past quarter century we have addressed this issue by working toward an intentional dynamics approach based on the Feynman path integral. From initial to final condition, i.e., from goal-selection to goal-satisfaction, the kernel of the integral’s transform, K(t1, t0), somehow propagates a path that solves a two-point boundary problem just as any constrained particle must. Here we treat choices at choice-points (including the initial, current, and final states) encountered along goal-paths as superpositions. Intention, or goal selection, is hypothesized to be just another word for entanglement whose path stability can be measured using quantum correlation. Also, we hypothesize that objects’ multiple uses (affordances) encountered along the way can be treated as superpositions that “collapse” as the goal-paths are successfully propagated. Under this approach, we hypothesize that intentional activities are made possible by the system’s entanglement dynamics – the progressive making and breaking of entanglements in order to stay on a goal-path.