SCIENCE WATCH: THE UNIVERSE THINKS LIKE A BRAIN

A FASCINATING AND PROFOUND QUESTION THAT LIES AT THE INTERSECTION OF NEUROSCIENCE AND COSMOLOGY: THE UNIVERSE THINKS LIKE A BRAIN 

The idea that the Universe thinks like a brain is an intriguing concept rooted in some remarkable scientific observations.

​🌌 Striking Structural Parallels

​The core of this idea stems from the visual and statistical similarities between the large-scale structure of the universe and the network of neurons in the human brain.  

​The Cosmic Web:

Galaxies are not randomly scattered; they cluster into vast sheets and filaments called the Cosmic Web, with huge empty voids in between.  

​The Neural Network: Similarly, neurons in the brain form an elaborate network of connected cells, using filaments called axons to communicate across tiny gaps called synapses.

​Quantitative Similarities

​Scientists have gone beyond just visual comparisons. Studies, such as one by astrophysicist Franco Vazza and neurosurgeon Alberto Feletti, have used quantitative analysis (like spectral density) to compare the two systems. They found that:  

​The distribution of matter fluctuations in the Cosmic Web (galaxies on a scale of millions of light-years) follows a progression similar to the distribution of matter in the cerebellum neuronal network (neurons on a scale of micrometers to millimeters).  

​The overall complexity and number of connections/components in both systems show surprising parallels, despite the difference in scale being about 27 orders of magnitude (a staggering difference!).  

​🤔 Beyond Structure: The "Thinking" Question

​While the structural similarities are compelling, the real question is whether the universe can truly "think" or process information like a brain.

​Information Processing:

 The brain's ability to think comes from the dynamic flow of electrical and chemical signals across its network (synaptic firing). For the Universe to "think," it would need a similar mechanism of information transfer and self-organization across the Cosmic Web.

​Currently, the interactions between galaxies (gravity and electromagnetism) are much slower and less capable of building up the rapid-fire excitation seen in neural activity.

​Complexity and Self-Organization:

 The similarity may stem from the fact that both are examples of complex, self-organizing systems. It suggests that diverse physical processes, operating under similar principles of network dynamics, can spontaneously generate structures with similar levels of complexity, regardless of the scale (a phenomenon also observed in things like mycelial networks or lightning strikes).  

​Key Takeaway

​The current scientific consensus is that the universe does not literally think or possess consciousness, but its large-scale structure is quantitatively and statistically similar to a human brain's neural network. It's a profound observation about the unifying principles of complexity and structure that appear to govern systems across radically different scales in the cosmos.  

Grateful thanks to GOOGLE GEMINI for its kind help and support in creating this blogpost.

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