A Brain Cell is the Same as the Universe

It's no surprise. All we know is light and consciousness. I think our level of understanding of how anything works is totally unimportant to the big big big picture. Until we can look past what science has told us we will never know the truth.

Could be interesting on a infinite dimensional scale where size isn't really the important thing, only perception of our own consciousness of an infinite universe. How many galaxies are in our own known universe and how many brain cells within our own bodies. Every cell a universe of it's own.

Infinite creativity... infinite possibility. And with a head full of billions of universes... we could all be a "god".

reply to post by sith9157


I would say it truly shows that the brain is really good at making comparisons and finding patterns. Oh and that people rarely think for themselves or read entire stories before jumping on a wagon.

Some pretty cool theories here and ideas about how it might all work but you cant jump the gun and say this is for sure as the universe picture is just a generated picture and also i thought the universe was never ending or infinite or something to that effect so how can they have a full pic of the universe if that is the case.


Some things we will just NEVER know i think. Enjoyed the topic though.

see people, there IS a reason why the purpose of human existence is to kill as many brain cells as possible

after all how many universes does one need?

reply to post by Arbitrageur





It seems that inner space is as infinite as outer space. It is great to see an awakening of others to these thoughts. I feel therein lies the answer to all things. As a child I questioned, if God exists then who/what created God. God it is said is the beginning and the end. My mind as a human being could not grasp the thought that something, anything has no beginning and no end. Later, as a teenager (the seventies) I saw a short animated film depicting a journey into inner space to the cellular level and then retreating into the outer reaches of space. This film got my mind working and I began to notice the parallels of the very small, say the depictions of the workings of an atom, to the very large, depictions of the circular motions of the planets and galaxies. As time meandered on ( I became older) the discoveries of quarks (very very small) and the theory of bubble universes (very very large) seemed to offer an answer to my question. Infinity inward and infinitely outward "Life Flows On Within And Without You" George Harrison. God is the beginning and the end. God is infinity. This changed my whole concept of God. I use the word God only as a name for descriptive purposes and not any religious connotation. I know not its name or religion. The freedom this has given me is tremendous.The everyday trials and tribulations of life,material wealth, expectations of others, hate and resentment,fear of death and the perplexing, never ending question of the meaning of my life all became much clearer and less important. All I really need in this life is to nourish my mind,body and soul. Everything else and I do mean everything, is a luxury and is to be enjoyed and not to be weighed down by. I grow spiritually from the tough times and get joy from the good times. Peace of mind is what is important to me and my treatment of other beings has a great influence on this peace. A great weight has been lifted from me with this realization and concept of God. These words are written only as food for thought and as a focal point for my own.

Originally posted by Arbitrageur

Originally posted by Diogeneser
It seems that inner space is as infinite as outer space. It is great to see an awakening of others to these thoughts. I feel therein lies the answer to all things.

It's just two images that have a slight resemblance, and one of them isn't even a real picture, so let's not go off the deep end here. It's not the answer to all things. I found a website that finds vague resemblances, it sorts of puts it in perspective:

totallylookslike.icanhascheezburger.com...
A Brain Cell Totally Looks Like The Universe

totallylookslike.icanhascheezburger.com...
This Paraceratherium Totally Looks Like an Imperial AT-AT Walker

totallylookslike.icanhascheezburger.com...
This Piece of Wood Totally Looks Like Sid the Sloth

totallylookslike.icanhascheezburger.com...
Western Tanager Totally Looks Like 5 Hour Energy Bottle

I could say the answer to all things lies in the resemblance of the bird to the 5 hour energy bottle, that wouldn't make it true. Please, have some perspective on this folks!

The pictures are just that, pictures. Painted, photographed, drawn it does not really matter to me. It is the thoughts they provoke that intrigue me. After all IMO there is no real proof that anything exists. Chemical reactions in my brain are what create my reality and that is all I really have to go by. One thing I am pretty sure of is that I do not have the answers. I am content with that fact. There is a myriad of thoughts coursing through my brain at any given moment and there are very few if any that I am responsible for. The input from my senses are what invokes these thoughts and all of my senses can be fooled. So I ask myself, what is real, what is proof, what is real proof? I have no answer but I can simply, enjoy the thoughts that these senses invoke and ponder my own existence. Peace of mind is what I seek from this life and though it can be elusive it is obtainable. I agree with you the pics are not the answer to everything. The answer lies in nothing. Thank you for your reply.

I remember being in my late teens, tripping on acid or mushrooms, and looking at everything, it was quite plain and obvious that the universe going outwards just got bigger and bigger and seemed to never end, and that going inwards: i.e. breaking a cell down into its components, then breaking THOSE components down, etc. also seemed like it would go on forever. It all just looked like the same process and life was in every conceivable location. Even our solar system mimics an atom.

Well, can I pat myself on the back on this one??

I noticed that years ago too. But, or course I never said anything, but, REALLY I did .

Anyway...cool find!

I'm enjoying all of these comments - awesome thread.

But - I have to differ with those that think that this is just a coincidence, and that it doesn't prove anything. Respectfully though.

My point is this - if these patterns show up in nature - at the microscopic level up to our level - then isn't it possible that they will continue to make up life on bigger levels? These patterns are an indicator of life and substance, correct? These patterns are everywhere - but not on the larger scale? It doesn't count somehow if it's bigger than us?

I mean, we are truly tiny - and truly enormous all at the same time - and we're most certainly part of the natural world.

I think it goes on and on.

Originally posted by followingpythagoras
I'm enjoying all of these comments - awesome thread.

But - I have to differ with those that think that this is just a coincidence, and that it doesn't prove anything. Respectfully though.

My point is this - if these patterns show up in nature - at the macroscopic level up to our level - then isn't it possible that they will continue to make up life on bigger levels? These patterns are an indicator of life and substance, correct? These patterns are everywhere - but not on the larger scale? It doesn't count somehow if it's bigger than us?

I mean, we are truly tiny - and truly enormous all at the same time - and we're most certainly part of the natural world.

I think it goes on and on.

Think Fractals.

Fractal mathematics explains this very well and it is proven in nature, from the microscopic to the macroscopic. There is a precision in the universe that cannot simply be ignored...call it whatever you want, pure mathematics, the perfect balance (physics) or something more, ultimately it proves that something far far greater had a hand in the creation of all that we know and don't know.

To think that nature is just a series of accidents is a little naive and very short sighted and to be quite blunt, those that are unwilling to take a look from the another perspective are just pleading ignorance of something that is obvious.

Take a look at this, I always watch this and recommend it to my more biblical friends...if this doesn't deflate a persons ego then I don't know what will.



"It is a spectacular tapestry, so vast and diverse in it's design, that the power of it's creator, must truely surpass all human understanding"

reply to post by old_god


I read up on fractals today - (thanks to those of you who brought it up) - and I was blown away.

I never cease to be amazed at the new things I learn - this is precisely why I love this site.

Originally posted by Arbitrageur

Originally posted by justsaying
Thank you, everyone on this thread is getting wowie-wowie over an optical illusion.

Thank you. It felt lonely in this thread being one of the few people not saying something like "the universe must be a giant brain" or "as above, so below"

I was hoping there were more people who would see this for what it is, so it's nice of you to chime in.

Yeah I think me pointing out that natural geometry is fractal may have added to that sentiment. Though it was entirely unintended.

All I wanted to point out was since nature obeys similar mathematical laws at all scales it's not surprising to see fractal geometry on human and cosmic scales.

I never said the universe is a giant fractal and that all is one, but I'm afraid it gets misinterpreted that way.

Listen folks the similarities we see at different scales are the result of mathematical laws that happen to work at multiple scales. No grand connection no anthropic reasoning needed.

Isn't it wonderful and amazing enough that nature behaves this way without assigning some great higher meaning with no correlates.

Fractals merely allow for great variation and depth to give rise to ordered systems the merely happen to have self similarity and APPEAR to have down scaling. . .

All your seeing as has been mentioned is an animation of suspected dark matter distribution. There is much natural fractal geometry in the distribution of stars in a galaxy and in small things like Brownian motion. You don't need to reach so far to see it.

Again before i go let me say this. You see similarity at different scales because the mathematics are the sam at these various scales. No hologram no universal fractal just math giving rise to what math does Order, and simplicity, and beauty from depth, and complexity, and chaos.

Imagine that, our entire universe is just another being's brain cell (God?) The Universe started (When the being was born?) Expands (As the beings brain develops?) and collapses (as the being dies?)....afterall, we know that time doesnt really exist!

Or how about OUR brain cells are individual universes....which would tie in with parrarell universes because the brain cells are part of the same brain? JUST A THOUGHT.....but explains a lot if you ask me lol!

So looking similar to a brain cell makes it a brain cell? What other than lools makes the universe a brain cell? I think this one went over my head..


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reply to post by followingpythagoras


I personally wasn't trying to argue that the line of reasoning is bad, just that the equation of a brain cell and an interpretation of what some think the universe might look like being basically the same only on different scales is not sufficient.

I think Nature is quite efficient and would certainly duplicate any working models whether they are large or small. Its being really nit picky I know.

reply to post by sputniksteve


This is the exact point I was trying to make. . . If the laws are the same then inevitably there will be similarities at different scales. Nothing more nothing less. Just math and physics. The similarities have no correlates.

They are just that "similar" not direct scaling.

Originally posted by constantwonder
reply to post by sputniksteve

 

This is the exact point I was trying to make. . . If the laws are the same then inevitably there will be similarities at different scales. Nothing more nothing less. Just math and physics. The similarities have no correlates.

They are just that "similar" not direct scaling.

The laws aren't the same though =) That is a huge problem with physics right? Things that should operate the same don't, when we get down to the really really small and really really big.

That was a playful jab though, I know exactly what you are trying to say and it appears we agree. I actually developed this line of thought (obviously not original but I guess I deduced it myself one day) while pondering life in the rest of the universe. I figured if nature is efficient and not wasteful then why would the rest of the universe go unused with us as the only occupants? Obviously if nature on the larger scale (universe) works similar to nature on the smaller scale (earth, ecosystems, plants, animals, insects, atoms, etc.) then it wouldn't be wasteful and wouldn't be unused.

I don't know if that line of thought is actually proofable(sp?) using critical thinking but it makes sense to me.

reply to post by sputniksteve


All in good fun

I wasn't scaling down that far. You are correct that at the quantum scale things get very different.

Perhaps i should have been more clear... Macro scale things obey the same laws. From human scale to cosmic scales classical mechanics applies.

Once you reach the quantum scale though things really do get quite different. And yes that is a HUGE problem for science. Though work done recently showing quantum effects on small yet still macro scale objects is starting to change that perception. Perhaps variations of quantum mechanics that we just don't currently recognize truly govern all things.

Time (is that the right word ) will tell I s'pose.

reply to post by sputniksteve


It's not nitpicky - everyone has a right to think!

I totally get the point that even though that computer generated picture of our universe resembles the close up of the brain cell - it doesn't mean we're actually living in a huge brain cell of God's. But - to me it proves that we are living in something - if the patterns continue onward and upward, then they are making up something on a bigger scale - physically, right? I mean, why wouldn't they be? That's what all the rest are doing on the other levels. Doesn't mean its a brain cell - but to me it means that its something. It is not nothing. So if it is something - then it doesn't really matter what it is, per se. Just the knowledge that we make up something bigger than ourselves is enough for me to wonder and wonder.

you people are hysterically funny. You ignore the simplest of all facts about that "picture" of the "universe".

WE CREATED IT.

It has absolutely ZERO foundation in scientific fact. We MADE IT LOOK like a brain cell.

What the hell has happened to the quality of thought in our society?

Originally posted by followingpythagoras
reply to post by sputniksteve

 

It's not nitpicky - everyone has a right to think!

I totally get the point that even though that computer generated picture of our universe resembles the close up of the brain cell - it doesn't mean we're actually living in a huge brain cell of God's. But - to me it proves that we are living in something - if the patterns continue onward and upward, then they are making up something on a bigger scale - physically, right? I mean, why wouldn't they be?

Each thing in the universe adds to the sum total of the universe. But the apparent correlation between geometries of in this case dendrites compared to the large scale universe is not the result of the universe also being the same as the dendrite. It is the result of the laws of geometry that apply the same way at both scales.

Lets take this somewhere else. Lets say we take a tree it's geometry greatly resembles that of a dendrite in the brain. . . Not because the tree and the brain both function in the same way but because natures laws apply to both. The branching of vessels in the lungs resemble rivers, trees fractal coastlines and many other things aswell. Not because they function in the same manner but because they were built using the same set of rules.

Fractal distributions are efficient. If everything was euclidean the complexity and beauty we see just isn't possible. So let's all just marvel at nature for what it is natural.... Not (at least not by the evidence) super natural.

Honestly I think this all springs from the human need to feel included. If we can't claim a god then we MUST be part of something even greater. It's a basic function of human desire to belong so our brains lead us to conclusions that just don't add up.