Is the Universe a Brain?

If we were able to see the universe from a Very Large scale,many times larger than the cosmic background temperature image,what would we see?Hold a marble close to your eyeball,and you can see many "universes" within,but when you hold it at arm's length it is just a marble.

What would our universe look like at "Arms Length"?

We will never know;We are bound by the speed of light;The skull of the universe,if you will.

Knowledge in the universe is constantly increasing,perhaps that is why it is expanding?All living things contribute to the universal knowledge,and allow the universe to "know itself" from many perspectives.

The universe itself may be a living super-entity and we are merely a sub group of neurons within a larger group.

To paraphrase Plato:"That which is writ small is also writ large",

Which implies an infinite fractal universe.

No matter how hard we try,we cannot really see outside of the "Big Box".

Jus' thinkin'

thought provoking words (in lighter vein: matching with profile picture). Enlightened ones/Philosophers in past said things like 'universe is within (within oneself)','imagination is everything', 'aham brhmosmi' (last one is in sanskrit). May be they are aware of the similarity or thought 'The universe itself may be a living super-entity and we are merely a sub group of neurons within a larger group'

"Knowledge in the universe is constantly increasing,perhaps that is why it is expanding?"

like man made global warming, we are changing the universe. we all need to stop thinking so that the universe will stop changing.

The Earth does not need us.It will get along just fine if we disappear.

All of the species that now exist are only 1% of all that have existed on this Earth.

The continents will continue moving,ice ages will come and go,miles high glaciers will scrape the surface clean,continents will be subducted,new continents will rise from the oceans,volcanoes will spew out the molten remains of previous civilizations.

The Earth will continue along as normal for billions of years,until the hydrogen fuel in the core of our sun is exhausted,then it will collapse and begin to burn helium,then the intense heat from the helium will ignite the hydrogen in the outer layers,and it will expand out to the orbit of Mars,and the Earth will become vaporized in the atmosphere of the red giant our sun has become.Countless planets have met this fate in the history of the universe,and their atoms are scatted over endless space and time.No trace of the follies of their inhabitants.The earth does not need us.We need it if we intend to continue to survive.

It has taken only a few million years for apes to evolve,hairless and otherwise.The universe is billions of years old.Plenty of time for other civilizations, millennia ahead of us to evolve.They will have conquered C,which to us is impossible;It was once believed that the speed of sound was impossible to break.

I am sure they may have tourist trips to Earth to see the primitive ones with the large egos,and chuckle to themselves at their folly.

But that is just my opinion, and as always,I could be wrong.

As one is not able to look at it like one would look at a <...marble...>, the question is somewhere between unanswerable and meaningless here.

A tablet of Aspirin is easier to visualise, particularly at the moment.

I didn’t look at your links, but for some time, There are uncanny pattern similarities that’s been notice for quite some time.

as in nature, and possible the universe is made up in patterns that are shared,... such as the Fibonacci Sequence as an example. Are they one?,... no, but that doesn’t say you can see shared patterns.

anyways,...

here’s the link, if the definition doesn’t turn out good.

Here’s another link about the similarities...

http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/human-brain-cosmic-web-similarities-09066.html

To a certain degree, with your post, it reminds me of ‘Horton Hears a Who’

As I stated,we will never know,and I referred to a fractal pattern that is universal.

The analogy of the marble is just that: an analogy.

We obviously do not live within a marble.

The question was meant to provoke deep thinking,not to get a definitive answer.

I seem to have accomplished that goal with those that did not dismiss it out of hand.

Thanks to everyone that responded.

Hello Hi Tek,

I have always thought of the universe as being like a person, earth being either an atom or similar. The problem that worries me (not to distraction), is that earth will appear to the universe as a cancer due to the foolishness of the people living on the planet. If we are seen as such, might we be removed to stop the spread of our stupidity to other planets.? We are considering moving to the stars, although the technology has not yet been developed yet.

Oh dear!, I hope the interstellar surgeon doesn't find us to soon.

earth is just 3.08e-58% of universe (just searched google) ,does not do much harm, 'interstellar surgeon' may not recognize this little fraction, even if do so, may opine not up to mark to warrant intervention.

I have often thought that we were delegated to the suburbs of the galaxy to prevent our spread long enough to evolve a society capable of living peacefully with other species.

It will take planet-wide cooperation to achieve travel even to our nearest habitable ( at least for our species) planet.The barrier is cooperation,not C.

We have not so far even learned how to live among ourselves,imagine how we would get along with a totally alien species.

We kill each other because of differences in opinions,jealousy,fear,hate,greed,ambition,and a thousand other reasons to justify our actions.

We will not succeed in leaving our little "bubble" until we evolve to a higher degree.I am sure this is,and was the case with many species in the past that are now citizens of the universal community.

There will be hard lessons,but we must learn them or perish.

There have been and will be, many setbacks,where civilizations rise and fall from internal strife.

It is not our time yet.

We are infants.

We have much to learn.

Those that think we are influencing global warming or cooling or acid rain or ozone hole need to stop the narcissism. we can influence a small pocket of the world such as a china city pollution. compare that to the fire that is burning in soviet russia. was that man made? nope, is it more of an impact on earths atmosphere, yes. how about all those volcanoes that are erupting right now... how many 10-15? all of that emission dwarfs what humans are creating. can we stop a volcano? a big NOPE to that. but lets make it our next existential threat to earth and lets really scare the stupiid and tell them we have 5 years left... give all your money to blaw blaw blaw.

how stupid we are to believe that a rise in CO2 and the earth warming by 1degree in 100yrs is a bad thing. have you noticed the greenery in places that we have never seen before? do you think Iceland or Greenland (hmm, wonder why its called that?? lol). are complaining? CO2 is nourishment to plants on earth. The earth will regulate the level all by itself. more trees/greenery means less CO2 in the atmosphere. and when the earth gives a giant burp from just one of its massive volcanoes, or a big rock hits us, then life will be knocked back and only certain species that can adapt will survive.

want to know how to skim off the BS? although just about everything we are told by our mainstream media is BS, if it were true, they ban it, or just ignore it. like the riots every night in portland. BUt back to my question.. want to know how to tell these idiot politicians are lying to you? because someone like Obama buys $15million ocean side lot at sea level (martha's vineyard)., or an easy one is that these ppl are saving up for retirement. if the world is going to end.. why not live it up? party like its 2022 (end of the world)..or something as simple as Al Gore's lifestyle that leave a carbon footprint the size of 200 inner city dwellers.. yet he preaches to the peasants to buy a smaller car, or the "Climate Czar" john Kerry who flies around in his private jet.. when a reporter (from another country- usa media would never ask a lib) asked why a private jet... kerry responds that he cannot use a saleboat... its laughable.. no, no one said a sailboat or rowing across the ocean.. but maybe fly on a commercial airlines like the rest of the peasants do ?

such a crock of crap..

I somewhat disagree, especially with the acid rain... the sulphuric (di)oxide that was pumped into the air from the industrial revolution has and did have an effect... (so did the volcanic eruptions)

btw, I didn’t mark you off topic,... even though it was.

It is a common believe in universal conscience. Whether this be God, Buddha, other deity or something else altogether.

It has been thought that certain highly intelligent people through out history, have been in contact with this universal conscience (intelligence). How else could they came up with some of the ideas they did at times when it was well beyond current knowledge or technology? Tesla and Da Vinci as a couple of examples.

If the theory that our universe is actually a brain were true, the sheer size would make the knowledge held limitless. Being able to tap into this would certainly have its advantages.

Consider for a moment not what is currently considered impossible, but what would not be possible with a well of this much knowledge and experience that comes with it... the knowledge of the ages from all galaxies & species within the universe. And yes, I think we would be very vain to think we are the only intelligent species in our vast universe. Is there anything that would truly be impossible?

If the universe was simple enough for us to understand it,we would be too simple to understand it.

Appropriately, for this engineering forum, the Principal of my technical High School told us on the first day of classes that 'IMPOSSIBLE' is not a technical term. I've looked at problems with that in mind for the past 55 years.

That the structure of the universe mirrors the structure of the brain should not surprise those who accept the philosophical idea that one's existence is the only thing that cannot be doubted. Rene Descartes summed this up in his statement, "I think, therefore I am." He reasoned that he could doubt the existence of other people, the world, everything, but since there was that doubt, there must be a sentient being who does the doubting, therefore, although it could always be argued that everything was imaginary, no such argument could apply to his own existence. This became a foundational principle in philosophy.

In accordance with that foundational principle, it is not accurate to say that my brain and the universe are structurally similar. Through this philosophical lens, rather than through a telescopic lens, it is not a comparison of two different things. My brain and the universe are one and the same. I know it is a short step from this to the declaration, "I am God", but scratch the surface of many religions and you will find a belief in the essential deity of the individual - that by our thoughts and deeds we are actively participating in and shaping creation. Maybe, for all these years, the scientist and the monk, although they have been on different paths, those paths are leading to the top of the same mountain.

He tried starting with the premise that he didn't exist,but didn't get very far.

Well, after Descartes had satisfied himself that he actually existed, he remained in bed (where he did most of his work) and developed the system of Cartesian (x,y,z) co-ordinates (named after him), without which we wouldn't know which way was up, down, or sideways. He also introduced the use of exponents and the square root sign. It was Descartes' "application of algebra to geometry that was to pave the way for the development of calculus by Newton." (from Isaac Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology)

we are the universe, made manifest, trying to figure itself out.

Can't help but think of the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. The mice would be chuckling at this question.

(Not really off-topic.)

No. I don't think it is. It makes no decisions. No choices. For it does not discern a future.

In addition to that, the distances involved in signal transmission would make it unimaginably slow.

As humans we are in an endless pursuit to discover that which has existed before we existed,and will persist long after we are gone.We have not discovered everything about the universe yet,and never will.

We presently have not discovered how to exceed the speed of light,or how to communicate using entanglement,but it is somewhere beyond our present level of discovery.To say it is impossible is merely putting a limit on our ability to learn and understand.

When anything disappears into a black hole, at some point, the past,preset and future are all there,so that implies(by current theory) that the ,past,present and future are predetermined,and that time is an illusion,and that our sense of "now" is simply reality being spoon-fed to us one bit at a time.We nibble away at it.We cannot process reality in it's entirety,which is timeless.

Time,as we measure it,is man made concept.

We are actually measuring the change in relationship between two or more objects,judged by the relationship of two or more objects,compared to two other objects,whether it be a pendulum or an atom.

Time, in an absolute sense,without any reference points,it does not exist.

The universe contains all that we will ever know,and is that sense,all knowledge.So in that respect,it is a brain,IMHO.

Seldom have I seen so much bullshit crammed into such a small space.

Thank you sir.!

See! You learn something new every day if you try.

The admiration is mutual.

You have set some pretty awesome records in my book too.

Time exists with or without us.

we use a certain scale, just like some use metric while others use imperial. before modern man, the sun and the moon were used to measure time.

we change- we get older

Materials change- going to lowest energy state which is usually oxidation here on earth

Universe changes- it is growing outward.

these are physical things that are happening. you can call time a scale, or you can say that a scale is used to measure time.

but time does exist.. with or without us..

gravity exists too.

It is a very simple concept to understand,if you keep an open mind.

If there are no events to compare,how can you tell time?

Time is actually counting a number of events that happen relative to another set of events.

Imagine a total void.No photons,no energy of any kind.

Does time exist in such a void?How can you tell?

If you put 2 objects in that void,and they are apparently moving toward each other,with no acceleration,then one could be stationary and the other could be moving ,but without a 3rd object as a reference,it is impossible to tell,further more,it would be impossible to determine velocity without photons or any EMF.

For this thought experiment, imagine that you can see them without any outside energy of any kind.

So it boils down to comparing two or more objects as they change relative position with each other.We call this time.It is a man made concept.Units of time measurement do not matter,it is still relative positions of 2 or more
"things".

The NIST standard,now NIST-F2 measure the frequency of a particular transition in the cesium atom—which is 9,192,631,770 vibrations per second.

A vibration is a transition from one position to another.They call this number of vibrations a standard second.All time is referenced to this measurement.

If the fountain of Cesium atoms stopped moving there would be no way to measure time.Movement is the key;Movement in relation to something else.

If all motion in the universe stopped,time would stop.Like a photograph.

It is a simple concept to me.

A void cannot exist without something that could be placed inside the void. Therefore a total void cannot exist at all.

Logic is a little tweeting bird chirping in a meadow...

A void,in this sense,excludes everything outside.

It is a hypothetical perfect nothing.Not even the ZPEF.

Can you not even imagine such a thing?

Logic is forming a conclusion without prejudice to previous assumptions.

Well it's all energy in one form or another, thought, light, matter...so there is some commonality, we are a part of it...

Was that a male brain or female brain?

According to theory, wouldn't one have to stop each objects time, to stop all time. Time is not common. No c and no g, without local time. Motion is only common thru c......not t.

Define motion without reference to another object.

Rotation.

It is referenced to a center point.

les chromosomes, constitue les noyeaux cellulaire. La composition sont leurs sièges fondamentale de la vie (ADN). les Gênes constitué le support heriditaire. Donc le plan de notre espèce est indiseutable mais l »intelligence et le corps physique peu probable. Moi je dis inexistant. Nous sommes ( Khroma = couleur) , Soma = corps , le nombre constant et pair d »un seul individus se rattachant de son espèce. La véritable bande magnétique , l’ordinateur cellulaire constitue le plan directeur qui sont les cellules , la cellule , se rattachant les un les autres devenant les programmateurs , là où s »enregistre l »espèce. Écrit par Philippe Martin father of new quantum Physics theory �� sincères amitiés ensemble et toujours ensemble nous écrivons un nouveau paragraphe dans l’histoire de l’humanité