This paper introduces the Variable Theory of Human Agency, which reconceptualizes human agency within a deterministic material universe. Humans are posited as variables operating within order—entities that do not violate physical laws but modify their modes of expression. The human mind is inherently disordered and indeterminate; cognition emerges as a dynamic process continuously shaped and disciplined by material-world information. The essence of humanity lies in this intrinsic disorder, which constitutes the core mechanism of our role as variables. To illustrate the theory’s central propositions and demonstrate its falsifiability in principle, a four-group thought experiment using the Rubik’s Cube is constructed: (1) observation of innate divergence of consciousness (Group A); (2) boundaries of convergence under veridical informational guidance (Group B); (3) escape thresholds under misleading order (Group C); and (4) emergence and propagation of high-impact variables within a high-pressure socio-economic simulation involving resource depletion, information distortion, and class stratification (Group D). Explicit falsification criteria are provided, establishing a hypothetical but logically rigorous pathway for empirical validation.
Guoyong Chen (Sun,) studied this question.