Challenges and FAQs

By now, we've built a comprehensive framework:

• Agency is real.

• Agency is costly.

• Agency shapes the multiverse.

But no serious theory survives without addressing difficult questions.

In this post, we'll tackle key challenges to the Physics of Agency.

1. Doesn't the Many-Worlds Interpretation (MWI) imply that all outcomes happen anyway? What difference does agency make?

Answer: Yes, all possible outcomes indeed happen.

But measure matters.

• Each branch carries a measure (weight determined by quantum amplitude squared).

• Your agency determines how much measure is directed toward preferred futures.

You do not select which futures exist. You influence which futures flourish—and which versions of you become more prominent.

2. How can agents "control" branching measure without violating the deterministic evolution of the wavefunction?

Answer: Agents do not violate determinism or unitarity.

• They locally entangle with environmental degrees of freedom.

• Internal predictive models shape conditional correlations among branching pathways.

Control here means biasing local correlations, not altering global physics.

3. Where exactly do kybits "exist" physically?

Answer: Kybits manifest through agent-environment interactions.

• They are emergent measures at the macro level.

• Kybits quantify the extent to which agents intentionally shape branching futures via internal predictive models and deliberate actions.

They exist at the intersection of prediction, intentional action, and environmental decoherence.

4. What physical process burns energy when exercising a kybit?

Answer: Every intentional action incurs energy costs:

• Neural processing and computation.

• Muscle contraction and movement.

• Actuating sensors and machinery.

Shaping the future intentionally requires real, dissipative energy expenditure, akin to the physical cost of erasing information (Landauer’s principle).

No act of agency is thermodynamically free.

5. Why introduce new terms like "kybit"? Can't existing theories explain this?

Answer: Existing theories address specific aspects:

• Decoherence explains quantum branching.

• Cybernetics describes feedback loops.

• Information theory quantifies uncertainty.

However, no existing theory integrates these aspects into a unified framework where agent-driven shaping of multiversal futures is:

• Clearly quantified,

• Thermodynamically grounded,

• Linked explicitly to evolutionary and ethical dynamics.

Kybits provide this essential conceptual integration.

Final Reflection

Criticism does not weaken the Physics of Agency. It refines it.

Each challenging question offers an opportunity to sharpen the theory, making it more precise, grounded, and robust.

At its core, the Physics of Agency acknowledges the profound reality and precious fragility of intentional action— even in a universe where entropy and randomness continually await their return.

Where We're Headed

In the final post of this initial series, we'll summarize our journey and highlight the extensive future explorations ahead.

Reflective Question

Which challenge or question about the Physics of Agency do you find most intriguing or thought-provoking?

(Please share your reflections in the comments.)

Next post: "The Grand Synthesis and Future Directions"