AIM Framework glossary
AIM Integration Equation
Canonical definition
The AIM Integration Equation expresses the Decision Hub's common-currency integration of the three motivational sources as U(x) = wA · UA(x) + wI · UI(x) + wM · UM(x), where UA(x), UI(x), and UM(x) are the source-specific utilities of Object x and wA, wI, wM are non-negative AIM weights summing to 1 that express how strongly each source is contributing to the integrated valuation in the moment. The equation is the formal restatement of Axiom 2 (Common-Currency Integration). Source-tagging is destroyed in the integration step and the output U(x) is a single Scalar that does not preserve information about which source contributed what; this is the formal statement of Axiom 3 (Source Opacity).
Explanation
Your brain scores each option by adding up three separate wanting-signals (bodily need (A), genuine interest (I), and Salience, of which wanting picked up from others is the special case (M)) each turned up or down by a weight, with the three weights adding to 100%. What comes out is a single number for how much you want the thing. Once the three are added together you can no longer read off that number how much came from each source: the record of the calculation is destroyed. That discarding of the record is Source Opacity.
Epistemic status
Theoretical Construct (Latent Variable).
Derivation
Chapter 4, Section 4.3.2; Chapter 9, Section 9.2.1; Appendix A, Section A.2.
Related terms
- Decision Hub
- Common-Currency Integration
- AIM Weights (wA
- wI
- wM)
- Source-tagging
- Source Opacity