Study Maps The Odd Structural Similarities Between The Human Brain And The Universe

Study Maps The Odd Structural Similarities Between The Human Brain And The Universe

Michelle Starr

"Galaxies can group into enormous structures (called clusters, superclusters, and filaments) that stretch for hundreds of millions of light-years. The boundary between these structures and neighboring stretches of empty space called cosmic voids can be extremely complex.

Gravity accelerates matter at these boundaries to speeds of thousands of kilometers per second, creating shock waves and turbulence in intergalactic gases.

We have predicted that the void-filament boundary is one of the most complex volumes of the universe, as measured by the number of bits of information it takes to describe it.

This got us to thinking: Is it more complex than the brain?"

Is the human brain a model of the universe?

"In this eye-popping essay, physicist and mathematician Melvin Felton explores the uncanny and unexpected similarities between the structure of the human brain and the universe at large, at both unfathomably small and unfathomably vast scales."

Documented evidence of structural and dynamical similarities between the universe and brain

Quantum theory says that, on a fundamental level, spacetime is not continuous; rather, it is discrete, consisting of individual units on the smallest possible spatiotemporal scales. Furthermore, all physical events can be considered to be some form of interaction between entities (such as elementary particles) at these discrete units of spacetime. Based on this formulation, the large-scale structure of spacetime in our universe can be viewed as a complex causal network where the discrete units of spacetime are nodes and the fundamental forces of nature are links between nodes. It has been shown that the network encoding the large-scale structure and dynamics of spacetime is in many ways similar to the large-scale structure and dynamics of other complex networks that have appeared in nature and society.13 The outermost part of the human brain, the neocortex, which is the region primarily responsible for our higher-order cognitive abilities, is one such complex network that has been identified as sharing structural and dynamical properties with the quantum-causal network model of spacetime. In addition, similarity between structure in the universe and the human brain has also been found on much larger spatiotemporal scales. Namely, similarity has recently been found between the complex network of galaxies constituting the cosmic web of matter and neuronal networks in the brain....

More and more, modern science is uncovering surprising similarities between the universe and the human brain. Given the high demand for a system capable of modeling the universe, whether it be a mathematical computer simulation or a real physical system, these findings call for a systematic comparison of the ideas emerging out of physics concerning the fundamental nature of the universe, and the ideas emerging out of neuroscience concerning the fundamental nature of the brain and mind. Identifying analogous structural organization and dynamics of these two systems could lead to a powerful guiding principle for the advancement of our understanding of the universe, the human brain, and the relationship between the two.

I once saw a video with computerised image of the universe as it had been mapped using virtual slices.  It actually formed a structure in two hemispheres, very similar to a human brain.  I have been looking for that image for a long time now, but sadly haven't been able to find it.

Prior to that, I was writing a series of stories called "Tales From Am 'Athir" (and sadly never finished.  Typical of me!)  The third book, "Eysha" began:

"In elven lore it is said that the prophet Tchal wrote the book of Eysha. He wrote that the universe was created from a vast pool of gases which condensed to form the chemical balls we know as planets, each ball being unique in it's chemical make up. An elaborate network of waves of energy permeated space and carried information from chemical ball to chemical ball like a giant cosmic brain."

Maybe it's worthy enough to be rewritten?