Arvin Ash
What if the universe is self-aware? Is there a cosmic superconsciousness? Could it be a giant brain? There is a short but lazy answer, and there is longer but more intriguing answer. The lazy answer goes something like this. We humans are made of pieces of the universe. We are conscious, so the universe is conscious through us.
This is the standard short answer to the question of a conscious universe. But could the universe have a consciousness separate from us or any other conscious being? Could it be a kind of super consciousness? This concept has a name. It is called panpsychism.
The concept of Panpsychism has been around for thousands of years. It is an essential aspect of many religions, from the Old Testament’s omnipresent God to the Brahman of Hinduism and Buddhism. In fact, in Buddhism, nothing exists except consciousness.
Theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson, the man who conceived of the Dyson sphere, embraced panpsychism and said that the universe not only operates through our consciousness but a consciousness of its own.
Could this be true?
First we have to establish what consciousness is. Neuroscientist and psychiatrist Giulio Tononi, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has proposed a way to measure how conscious a thing is. He proposes that consciousness has to do with how much control a being has over itself or things around it. He even invented a measurement unit called phi to label how conscious something is.
#superconsciousness
This theory separates intelligence from consciousness, which are two different things. Super computers for example, which are highly intelligent, can routinely out-think humans and beat them at chess and Jeopardy, but they don’t have a will of their own. The programmer controls it. So intelligence and consciousness are two different things.
Based on this line of thinking we can say that a tree is more conscious than a rock. A worm is more conscious than a tree. A cat is more conscious than a worm. A human is more conscious than a cat. And the ultimate consciousness could be the universe itself.
If this is the way consciousness works, then the complexity of an organism’s brain has something to do with its level of consciousness. And scientists do have good evidence that the seat consciousness resides in brains. If we are more conscious than all the other animals, as we appear to be, it surely is no coincidence that we also have the most complex brain.
Consciousness seems to be an emergent property of highly interconnected and communicating systems like the brain which is an interconnected network of neurons that can fire chemical and electronic signals. Consciousness is not a property of individual neurons but results from the interactions of many neurons.
And what are neurons? They are triggered by certain stimuli and can send signals to each other. And large complex networks of these neurons seem to emerge into consciousness. The more complex the network, the more conscious something appears to be.
So is there some kind of network such that a “communication” of sorts might be happening at the quantum level between entangled pairs of particles. There is a humongous network of galaxies in the universe, many hundreds of billions of galaxies. This is not dissimilar from the network of the billions of interconnected neurons in our brain. The difference appears to be that each of our brain cells can communicate or at least fire a signal to other brain cells. Do the galaxies have such a communication mechanism between them?
It doesn’t appear so, but you have to remember that at the center of almost all galaxies, there is a black hole. It’s like the nucleus of a brain cell. What’s happening inside a black hole? We have no idea…because all our physics equations break down at the event horizon of a black hole – this is the point where time and space cease to exist and Einstein’s equations don’t work.
Is it possible that something is happening here that we just don’t know about? The black hole could only be analogous to a brain cell if somehow they were connected to each other and could send signals to each other.
If that was the case, a vast network of communicating trillion black holes would act like a gigantic information processor, and indeed be intelligent and possibly conscious. This would truly be a kind of super consciousness that could theoretically control not only our universe, but perhaps time and space itself.
But I think I’m getting way too excited about a completely speculative possibility. Practically, we have to ask, does the universe need to be conscious in order to arrive at its present state. In other words, does what we see around us need a consciousness to direct the events that lead up to what we observe, that lead to life? Would what we see right now be any different if the universe was utterly without consciousness? See the answer in the video above…
Source
I Believe that the 'Laws Of Nature' needed a creator…
an all seeing eye, to define the borders of free will.
If consciousness is seated in the brain? When near death 22 years ago I was out of my body. I could see, hear and think. I was out of my body and hospital intensive care unit.
Human: We are conscious
Universe : Hold my galaxy
This was a great short summary of this far-ranging topic. Teilhard de Chardin's The Human Phenomenon and its theory could be an interesting plus block in it.
Thank you for THE intro on Xmas eve Mr Ash….! Skunkyyyyyy
Everyone is wrong about everything
If the universe is anything other than limited mental construct then you should be able to explain it without words.
The universe is what consciousness looks like as viewed by a perceptually limited and (or) refracted mind.
Put another way; your thoughts appear in the same dimensionless space of awareness in which the universe apears. Consciousness is the only constant. This reality cannot be denied. A camera captures an image in the same way your eyes do. Both images are in awareness, known by awareness and are nothing other than awareness. The camera, your eyes and the mind are all mechanisms in awareness. A rock exist in awareness as a thought and perception. The laws of physics all exist in awareness, are known by awareness and are none other than the activity of awareness just as waves are the activity of the ocean.
Ask mind stone from marvel comic the ∞ gauntlet
The space in which your thoughts appear is the same space in which the universe apears and it's not a location.
But aren't we just sets of programs? We don't have any more control than trees because we just do what our programming tells us to do
im definitely not a materialist, im a panpsychist or solipsist, can't decide yet
If synchronicity is real, then universe have to be conscious or super determined
Your concept of consciousness is far to primitive to take all eventualities into account. For instance, you only recognize the manifest form of consciousness with its material "face". That is not a valid argument but a short circuit. You also only vaguely question your own analogy of neurons and black holes. I, on the other hand, vehemently question the justification of such an analogy in the first place. It is all a nice little game to pass the time, but it is just that, a little game.
That's why I want to try DMT. To understand the concept of consciousness and reality or at least to be able to believe in something bigger that reality and afterlife could offer. I'm thinking more rationally but at the same time I try to have experiences (like Meditation, Psychedelics and Cannabis or even Plane flights) that help me to see reality in a higher state of consciousness and to think about what's happening.
Or have they been discovered? But were unsure what were looking at
I love you sir
Thanks sir..
For making such wonderful videos
The answer could be more simple. consciousness does not exist at all.
OMG YOU GUYS REALLY HATE GOD THAT MUCH TO WHERE U DENY DENY DENY BUT THEN ASK " IS THE UNIVERSE CONSCIOUS?" SMH I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL HE RESETS ALL THIS . YOU GUYS ARE SLOW . BELIEVERS EXCLUDED
What if the black hole came from our thoughts. If it’s one thing we all agree with, it’s death. What if the black hole is just a simple representation of death. If the universe is like a gigantic mind then where would death be in that mind. So scientists say that where the black hole starts time and space don’t exist. Everything stops. And we have no idea what’s inside of a black hole because we don’t know for a fact what’s after death. We all have different belief systems but we can’t agree on what’s after death, so that what makes the black hole remain a mystery. When I think of death in my mind it’s just like a freakin black hole. Can’t escape death just like a black hole. And what ever or who ever goes into the black hole won’t be able to tell us what’s on the other side. Just like death. So it shall forever remain a mystery. But wait, what if we all believe in the same thing after death, could we shape the very existence of a black hole? If the universe is so predictable and abides by the laws of physics, then what the hell is going on with the black hole? Our mind is bound by the laws of physics physically but not mentally. What if?
What ever you believe is true. The universe is so complex that it’s enough evidence for every single person to prove whatever they believe. So if the universe is like a mind and you are in it, and you put thoughts out about it at the same time it is observing you and you are observing yourself and you are in fact a part of that mind. Just like you are what you believe you are. There’s no key to crack the code. We are not wired to understand the complexity. Which means I feel like what I’m saying is true and someone else will be like this guy is full of shit. Ta da that’s how the universe works.
If the universe is Conscious, then I’m convinced that it is GOD. And I’m far from a religious person. It’s GOD on the simplest terms even without every religious book that was ever written…..
We are part of the universe so in a sense, the universe is conscious
Scientists: there is no god that’s preposterous
Scientists: we now believe the universe is self aware, like an all encompassing being like God
Scientists: but there’s still no god Christians, stop clinging to your old faith!
Dark matter and dark energy necessary just for the survival of the big bang theory. This theory to come out correct needs her own rejection. Expansion of the universe which needs dark matter to fill the gaps continuously. So from where is coming dark matter and dark energy to fill the gaps? Somewhere outside the universe? How can answer this question? Nobody, not even intelligent extraterrestrials. So fuck this stupid theory and let go on. 100 years was enough strangling science and keep alive the dead gods.
To address that ending bit, an honest person will simply say "I don't know"
Well, the latest version of a god is a force, or energy. And the religions want god to know everything, all knowing. Pansychism would accomplish this. Just saying.
What a bizarre way to see consciousness. As a director or controller… that's coming from the military psyche, not truth. Look deeper.
Life is but a dream
In Hindu mythology this is represented by the concept of atman(individual consciousness) and parmatma (ultimate consciousness) .
if it is not conscious than for what purpose is the universe, and then why are we conscious