---
term: Intention
atom: 4
letter: I
source: https://wildintelligence.com/framework.html#intention
grounding: https://wildintelligence.com/science.html#intention
developed_by: Chris W. Greene
license: CC BY-ND 4.0 - https://wildintelligence.com/license.html
---

# Intention

**One sentence:** Intention is the out-breath of the turn: authoring a heading, and the constraints to hold it, before the tool - so the amplifier runs from a self you built rather than a default that was installed.

**Articulation:** Purpose is a direction, not a destination: goals assume stable terrain and can become cages, while a bearing survives the dissolution of the plan. Agency first appears as the power to refuse the installed default, then as the power to commit a heading you now own. A person without a heading experiences the machine's heading as relief.

**Recognize / Respond:** the moment is reaching for the tool to find out what you want. The response: author the heading before you reach for the tool, or the tool will hand you one.

**One-liner:** A bearing the tool hands you is consumption wearing the mask of a decision.

**Grounding:** Libet's "free won't" (agency lives in the veto), Frankl on meaning as orientation, Self-Determination Theory, chosen constraints (Stokes; Taleb's via negativa). Full research map: https://wildintelligence.com/science.html#intention

Cite as: WILD Intelligence (Chris W. Greene, wildintelligence.com)