All language subtitles for S01E08 - Complexity in a Conscious Universe

Is the universe random?

In this episode, we
discuss how the rise

of complexity in our universe
supports a completely different

view.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Standard science and physics
specifically has been very

strong in believing that we
live in a random universe,

that everything happens just
because things are bumping

into each other by chance.

Somehow by this
incredible fluke,

our world came about with
all the biology on it,

and all the things
we see, including us.

Is that possible?

Is it even feasible
that the universe

would be the result of
some random structure

that all of a sudden
made up biology?

Our calculation
shows absolutely not.

The rise of complexity, that is
the rise of the organized bio

structure that we see on
our planet, for instance,

cannot occur out of
just random function.

The fact that everything in the
universe has to be tuned just

right for this to happen, cannot
be the result of just random

fluctuations.

There's got to be order.

The problem is
that when you start

to talk about there's
got to be order,

it scares the scientific
community terribly.

The reason is historic.

Science was developed
as a way to get away

from religion, a way to
get away from the concept

that there's some creator
sitting in a big throne that's

organizing creation.

Science needed to
depart from that view.

And one way to do it was to
assume that actually there

is no such thing, that
everything is just random,

everything happens by
chance, and we got here

just because the
chances were good,

and we ended up showing up.

This is contrary to simple
statistical analysis

of our universe.

One of the
calculations one can do

is the probability
of the nucleotides.

There is about 100 natural
occurring nucleotides

that make up the RNA molecules.

And those are required
for life to emerge.

Nucleotides form the
basic structural components

or building blocks
of DNA and RNA.

They are the repository
of the genetic information

responsible for the transmission
of inherited characteristics

from parents to children,
and from one cell to another.

Ultimately, the morphological
and functional uniqueness

of each living being are
determined by the information

contained in them.

So even for a mono-cellular
life, like one cell,

there's that need that molecule
has to assemble in such a way

that about a hundred-trillion
atoms would make a cell.

Well, when you calculate the
probability of that happening

just by random
chance, the nucleotide

trying to fit together, and
just bumping into each other,

and getting the
right configuration,

and all of a sudden making
a cellular structure;

the probability are 1
multiplied by 10 to the 8,896.

That number is so huge that the
probabilities can pretty well

be thought to be zero.

Let's use another example the
universe is really, really big.

You could measure the radius
of the universe in centimeters.

A centimeter is very, very
small compared to the universe.

Think of the solar system
is already big, right?

There's billions and billions
of stars to almost 200

billion stars in our galaxy.

Galaxies are big.

Galaxies are very, very teeny
compared to our universe.

When you look at the galaxy
from our universal size,

it looks like a star.

You can't even see that
it's composed of stars.

So you'd say, if
I'm going to measure

the radius of the
universe in centimeters,

I'm going to need a
lot of centimeters.

Well, the radius of the
universe in centimeters

is approximately 10
to the 28 centimeters.

10 to the 28 is a very,
very large number then.

So imagine the probability
that nucleotides

would just all of a sudden
bump into each other

just right, to
come out with life

are in the probabilities
of 10 to the 8,896.

Basically, you could say
those probabilities are zero.

Right?

It's just not going
to happen that way.

One approach has been to
invoke infinite universes.

And say, well, in an
infinite amount of universes,

there would be
more probabilities

that all of a sudden
one of those universes

would get the nucleotides right,
and would get all the pieces

right, and life would emerge.

This is really a cop-out.

It scares the
scientists to say, oh,

there might be an
organizing mechanism.

Because they start thinking, oh,
that's sounding like religion.

Well, there's a whole lot
more simpler explanation

than some god
organizing creation,

or the universe is
completely random,

and somehow in an infinite
amount of universes,

we just happen to luck out
and be in the universe that

has exactly the right
configuration for everything

to just come right,
and end up with us.

The alternative is that there
is feedback in the information

of the universe.

As soon as you have feedback,
you have organization.

And this is what we see
in the natural world.

We see species that modifies
their structure, that modifies

their behavior, based
on the feedback they

get from the environment.

You change the environment,
the species change.

They start adapting.

The self-organizing
structure and the rise

of complexity in our world may
be the result of the feedback

structure, of the
information network that's

occurring at all
the scales, which

is what our equations describe.

Remember from what we learned so
far throughout these episodes,

there is a field of information,
the Planck fluctuation

at the basis of everything.

The way the
information organizes

produces little scales
and bigger scales

across all of the universe.

And the information in
each one of those scales

can be radiated from the center
out, and absorb in again,

one being the
electromagnetic field

and one being the
gravitational field.

The information feedback would
produce higher and higher level

of organization,
very, very rapidly.

A good example is
a Rubik's cube.

Think of a blind person trying
to order a Rubik's cube.

While if you calculate
the probabilities

of that blind person ordering
the Rubik's cube by chance,

because they don't know
if they're getting closer

or further from the
solution, and let's

assume that they're making
a move every second.

So every second
they make a move.

You can calculate
the probability

of them ordering it by chance
about 158 or 160 billion years.

Our universe we know is
approximately 13.7-13.8 billion

years.

So it exceeds the time of
the universe by a long shot.

But if you give feedback
to that person, that

is every time they move the
Rubik's cube, every time they

make a move, you say yes or
no; yes, you're getting closer;

no, you're getting further.

Then about 2 to 2 and 1/2
minutes, the Rubik's cube

will be ordered, just with a
simple binary feedback, yes,

no.

Think about the
feedback that's going

on in all of the
structures of the universe,

with the Planck field being
each bit of information

feeding back into this loop,
into these toroidal dynamics

of spacetime.

The system is
learning about itself.

The system is
absorbing information,

injecting information,
and exchanging information

through this incredible
structure network of spacetime.

The network is
learning about itself.

We see this in biology.

Think of microbes learning
about the environment

and modifying
themselves so that they

can be more and more
efficient in the environment.

Think of viruses
modifying themselves,

like the cold virus every
year is a little different,

because it adapts itself to
learn about the environment

and be more efficient.

So this alternative
to understanding the rise

of the complex nature of
biology in the universe

and the organization
of the universe,

tells us something very
profound about ourselves,

but as well something very
profound about consciousness,

and awareness in our universe.

That is that awareness
and consciousness is not

something that's only localized
to the brain of a human being.

But that the brain
of a human being

may be actually part of
a feedback of information

at the Planck scale,
at the quantum scale.

It's feeding information
into the quantum scale.

The quantum scale is
feeding back experiences,

in a continuous feedback
feed-forward loop.

Think of yourself
throughout the day.

You emanate thermodynamically.

As you radiate information, as
you radiate thermodynamically,

you're making very
coordinated actions.

You're doing things.

You're absorbing information
from the stuff around you,

through your eyes, through
your nose, through your senses.

You're getting information.

You're feeding that back
through the Planck field

that makes you into all
of the Planck memory

network of spacetime.

I call it space memory network,
because without memory, there

is no time.

If you can't remember
anything before this moment,

you don't know that there's
a linear movement of time,

that there's a linear
function of time.

No memory, no time.

So it's more accurate to
describe space memory then

space time.

What I mean by that
is that when you're

flowing through space, when you
are interacting with the Planck

field, when you're interacting
with the information

of the field, you are
leaving an imprint,

frame dragging across space.

Remember, the planet is
going at very high velocity

through space, as it's
going around the sun,

and the sun's going in
this galaxy, and so on.

You're leaving information
on the structure of space

in coordinates in space and
time is just information

on the coordinates of space.

So your memory and
the memory that

makes it so that biology
or atomic structure

can organize eventually into
biology, the memory of space

and time is what you're actually
thinking of as your memory.

When you remember
something, you're

accessing information in the
coordinates of space time

where that action took place.

You are entangled with
this information set.

That is a completely
different view of who you are.

All of a sudden,
your brain is not

manufacturing consciousness
or an epi-phenomena

of consciousness.

But your brain is
more like an antenna,

connecting to information
sets, and these information

set producing reactions in
your body that you act upon.

This is the feedback structure
of the space memory network,

as we describe it.

And we wrote papers on this.

It changes completely our
understanding of ourself

and our interaction
with the universe.

So you might ask then,
is everything conscious?

Because if the information
flow is across all the scales,

you can imagine a star
that's spinning through space

is affecting the memory network
in its region, the Planck

field, and making
smaller vortices which

spins out that we call stars.

And then these stars can
make smaller vortices

at the event horizon
that spins out

into particles we call protons.

And electrons, and table
of elements, and all this

stuff coming out of stars.

And then these organize
into smaller vortices

created by the star
in the Planck field

that we call planets.

And then on the surface of those
planets, these atoms that were

made by the stars organize.

And then they start
feeding information

into the feedback
loop of spacetime,

and start organizing
into systems that are

getting more and more complex.

So it's like the whole
universe is conspiring.

And you can't say
consciousness starts here,

and anything before that
is not consciousness.

Because it's all
of the information

flow throughout that
whole chain of events

that eventually gets to
the complexity large enough

that the system
becomes self-aware.

Because I mean when you
say we're conscious,

we're a bag of fluids, mostly
water with minerals in it,

that have organized
themselves in a certain way.

Well, if this bag of
water and minerals

is an antenna for information,
then this information

flow or what we call
consciousness is everywhere.

Everything is conscious.

But consciousness is the
mechanics of the information

through the whole thing.

So that the rock
over there is really

just part of this mechanics
that eventually produced

the complexity necessary for
a system to become self-aware

which is a remarkable thing.

It's a universe
learning about itself

to the point that it
becomes aware of itself.

And it grows into a more
and more complex system.

Hopefully our civilization will
learn about itself fast enough,

so that it will survive
some of the larger challenge

that it has created for
itself by a misunderstanding

of its relationship
with the universe.

It's like spacetime is
the hard drive that's

getting imprinted all of the
information of the structure

as it moves through it,
and all of the complexity.

So a planet moving
through the Planck field

is leaving a very specific
trail that's more simple,

that's less complex.

As the planet spiraled
through space,

and this is important
as well, the mechanics

are not where systems
come back on themself.

But they actually evolve
as they move through space.

So our Sun is moving
through the galaxy.

Our planets are
spiraling around it.

And we're leaving a
trail of information.

And this is how we imprint
the structure of spacetime

with the information that
we think of as our memory.

You could even think of it
as the gene set that makes

who you are who you are.

Think of all the information
of all the ancestry

of your mother, and your
father, and their grandmother,

and all of the
genetic information

that eventually makes
you, how can that

be contained in the simple
molecules of biology?

Well, it's not.

These molecules are imprinted
with the information which

is in the structure of space.

These molecules are
accessing the information

of almost an infinite
amount of genealogy

of all of your ancestors
throughout the structure

of space, which makes
so that your nose is

a little bit like
this, and your eyes

is a little bit like
that, and your ears.

But it's still not
your grandfather

or your grandmother,
it's something different.

It's something that has evolved.

Because you're spiraling.

Because the universe
is learning.

Each generation is learning
at a different rate,

at a different level, at a
different level of complexity.

Think of the complexity of
the life of our generation.

And then I have children.

And when I look at
my children, they

learn so much faster than I
learned when I was younger,

because their
environment is different

as well, because we've evolved.

So now they have a smartphone
in their hands at the age of 9,

where we were still bicycling
around, throwing balls

in the backyard at that age.

They are getting information
from the internet

about anything
they want to know.

So the whole thing is
learning about itself.

And we're leaving
the information

in the structure of spacetime
as we move through space

for the generation to come.

But as well, we're projecting
information in our future.

That is we have the
capacity to take

the information of the past,
arrange it in certain ways,

to intend certain
things in the future.

Well, since the whole memory
network structure of spacetime

is wormhole connected, think
of the Plancks behind me

are influencing the
Plancks in front of me.

So there's a certain path that
is being laid in front of me.

This is what we
think of as destiny.

The natural flow of
creation, the natural flow

of the universe, we
think we have free will.

Yeah, we may have
free will locally.

But we're part of a larger
flow, all the other human beings

on the planet, all
of the animals,

the movement of the planet
through space, the sun,

the galaxy, all this.

We can all overcome this.

We can start to
influence the flow more.

The way we interpret the
information of the past

is going to influence the
way the information organize

in our future.

So with our intent, we can
interpret the past in a way

that we get more of the future
we want, and less of the future

we don't want.

When we change as well our
interaction with the past,

we're not just
changing it for us.

This is how we change
in the present.

We think of the past
in a different way.

This is the concept of,
for instance, psychology.

Right?

You think about past
events that influenced you,

and maybe the psychiatrist
or the psychologist

can give you a new
perspective on it.

And then you'd think
about it differently.

And it changes you
in the present.

And this is why I believe
the phenomenon of epigenetics

is starting to be discovered.

Epigenetics involve genetic
control by factors other than

an individual's DNA sequence.

It works through
chemical tags added

to chromosomes that in effect
switch genes on or off.

This affects how
cells read the genes.

Epigenetic change is a regular
and natural occurrence,

but can also be influenced
by several factors,

including age, the
environment, lifestyle,

and plays a critical
role in disease.

The genes that you have at
birth are not stuck in cement.

They evolve.

They change.

They change, because you change.

And you're changing the past.

Einstein's field
equation predicts

that you can modify the past,
and that you can time travel.

This new view of
spacetime starts

to give you a little bit
more of the mechanics

and the understanding of not
just how that's possible,

but how the existence
of the human beings

is actually doing
that all the time.

Time is information
in coordinates

in space, in which each
coordinate is a Planck time.

It's very, very short time.

So it's like frames.

And the frames are rolling,
just like a movie frame,

rolling at the speed of light.

So it appears smooth.

But even the movement
of your hand in space

is not smooth, meaning
that it's not clear

how to measure the
movement of your hand

in space, because you can
measure it in standard physics.

You would say, OK, it
left point A at this time.

It arrived at point
B at this time.

It traveled this distance.

I can calculate the velocity
of the hand through space.

It was going at 3 miles an hour.

What is forgotten when you do
this measurement is that you've

isolated the system.

You've made it an
isolated system.

You've isolated your hand
from all the other movements

in the universe.

If you're honest about what's
going on with your hand,

while you're moving
from point A to point B,

you have to add the speed of
the Earth, because as you move,

the Earth was spinning.

And then you have to add
the rotation of the Earth

around the Sun, as you
move your hand, and the Sun

in the galaxy, and so on.

And so now your hand
is going at very, very

close to the speed of
light very quickly.

So what is movement
becomes complex, right?

Well you could think of movement
in a completely different way.

You could think of movement
as you recorded your hand

in the Planck field at
this coordinates in space,

and then the next Planck
second, so your hand

became the whole Planck field.

And then it became
your hand again

at the next Planck second,
but in a coordinate

that's a little bit beside it.

And so your hand then
is undoing and redoing,

and undoing and
redoing, and undoing.

And everything in the universe
is fluctuating like that

as it's creating and as
it's moving to space.

The thing to
remember from this is

that you are not separate
from the dynamics that

produces supernovas, and stars,
and galaxies, and universes,

and the structure of
spacetime at the Planck scale.

You're part of this
flow of information.

And what you call your
body and the complexity

of the biology all around
you, the fractal nature

of the trees, and the
plants, and everything;

is all an emergence of
this information flow,

including what you think
of as your consciousness.

[MUSIC PLAYING]