Is all reality... the entire universe... just swirls of color on the surface of a soap bubble?

Underneath the infinitely variable patterns of matter and energy are the same mechanisms... the same patterns... the same principals.

 

Through the lens of science, I see tantalizing glimpses of these repeating patterns...  in the gravimetric coalescing of galaxies, the virus-like spread of memes in a population, the dynamic self-assembly of molecules, chaotic stock market trends, the beauty of fractals encoded in a flower's growth... and in the self organizing connections of neural nets, the very essence of the human mind. 

 

These mechanisms... these patterns…  these swirls of color…  underlie ALL REALITY... and are expressed over and over again...

 

Matter inherently increases in complexity... increases in chaos... it is a fundamental reality of this universe.  The coming human Singularity is no different; the chaotic patterns of the human mind are freeing themselves from their biological origins... and seeping into our technology.  And the technological paradigm has the power to increase the universe’s complexity beyond all current understanding… to turn the entire universe into hyper-intelligent, sentient matter.

 

But, even this is inevitable... it is just another predictable outcome of increasing complexity... another swirl of color on the soap bubble.

 

What does this mean?

 

It may mean, that once the human race passes the singularity… once we become omnipotent and all knowing, we will have seen and done everything.  If we see the universe like an endless desert of the real, and everywhere we look everything is maddeningly the same, what then?  Is this a Faustian bargain where posthumans exist forever in the isolation and loneliness of a universe we ourselves drained of discovery and adventure?

 

Upon envisioning this possibility, my initial reaction was one of extreme dread; are my own awe-inspiring glimpses into the inner workings of our physical reality uncovering a horrifying truth?  Is every last thing in our growing reality really that mechanistic and homogeneous?

 

Well, the answer is… yes and no.  

The good news is, as physicist Michio Kaku says: we will ultimately be able to manipulate a grand unified theory of physics, create a bubble into another dimension… and leave this universe behind.  We will most likely not be trapped in a universe we know all too well, as we could create a new one!

 

And there really is no bad news.  

Yes, the underpinnings of the universe are definitely mechanistic, as to a large extent… are we.  But, the possibilities of a posthuman future are endless.  Even if unable to leave this universe, we will recreate the universe as many times as we like, each time a unique, even dynamic, change.  And the subjective time of an accelerated posthuman reality would push any natural end to the universe back by trillions of years… effectively forever.

 

Even at near the speed of light, just the first transformation of our universe into hyper-intelligent matter would take hundreds of billions of years.  No need to worry about reality becoming boring literally forever!  And that scenario ignores the pleasure of meeting other intelligences that would keep us company.

 

 

So… having thought through all this, I am once again free to explore my reality with wide-eyed wonder.  There really is no dark intellectual danger in uncovering the systems and functioning of the universe.  I continue to be amazed and humbled by what science shows me, and I hope you feel the same way!

 

The most important thing you can ever do is …

 Free Your Mind!