Everything in the universe; matter, energy or events, no matter how complex can be simplified to just 4 fundamental forces - electromagnetic, strong, weak and gravitational forces. In other words starting from these four fundamental forces everything should be explainable from first principles.
The Grand Unified Theory suggests that at the grand unification energy of >10^16GeV, the electromagnetic, strong and the weak forces should exist as a single force. Although this unified force has not been directly observed, experiments have confirmed that at high enough energy (248GeV) the electromagnetic and weak forces unify into a single electroweak force.
At the extremes of temperature that existed about < 10^-43 secs after the Big Bang, the Grand Unified force predominated in the newly formed universe, but evolved into three separate forces during the relatively milder periods that followed.
It follows then that if the electroweak force can be experimentally demonstrated, then the grand unified force uniting the three GUAGE forces of the standard model should be demonstrable, and by extension the ultra unified force uniting all the four fundamental forces at the extreme energy of >10^19 GeV that existed at the big bang and shortly after.
What this implies is that the extremes of energy that predominated in the newly formed universe at the Big bang and shortly after permits the existence of only one fundamental super force. A mathematical description of this super force will be the successful unification of quantum mechanics and general relativity; the solution to the Theory of Everything - one all encompassing theoretical framework of physics that explains everything in the universe. This super force/energy would then be the physical manifestation of this mathematical expression.
For this super force/energy to remain the most fundamental force in the universe, the seemingly endless chain of causality has to be broken somehow, otherwise there will always be something more fundamental, and a never ending chain. There will always be something causing a supposedly fundamental force. To break this seemingly perpetual chain of causality without violating the law of causality, this fundamental super-force will not only be a cause – the most fundamental cause of events in our universe, but also simultaneously be the effect of that cause. In other words an energy/force that can simultaneously be a cause as well as the effect will be able to stimulate and continuously make more of itself and thus remain in perpetual existence. This way nothing can be more fundamental, because it can serve as it’s own cause.
Here things start to get weird and a bit more interesting.
- This energy – the most fundamental cause that is also it’s own effect will as a consequence be able to detect itself, meaning it will be self aware or self conscious.
- If it can detect itself, then it will be able to detect other energies/forces external to it, meaning it should be aware of events that are external to it.
- It should also be able to stimulate itself, making it autonomous, and also to perpetuate itself indefinitely.
- It should be able to interpret what it experiences of itself and of the environment external to it, making it fundamentally intelligent.
- Finally, it should be able to make decisions based on past experiences, meaning it should have memory.
Perhaps consciousness (awareness of self and surroundings), autonomy, intelligence and memory can all be explained as fundamental properties of this super-force rather than being biological properties.
Dark energy is an unknown energy that constitutes about 68% of the total energy in the present day observable universe. It is the energy thought to be responsible for the accelerating expansion of the universe. It is an intrinsic property of space, and has a constant energy density regardless of the dimensions of the volume of space under consideration. Meaning, the expected reduction in the quantity of dark energy per unit volume of expanding space is not what is obtainable, rather the quantity of dark energy remains constant per unit volume of space despite the accelerating expansion of space. This means that the quantity of dark energy increases as it causes the expansion of the universe. In other words dark energy makes more of itself as it causes the expansion of space in order to keep its density constant.
We thus may conclude that this fundamental energy with the unique ability to stimulate and make more of itself could be dark energy, with properties of consciousness, intelligence, autonomy and memory. Same properties that define us as humans; and that the essence of life and the cosmos are perhaps intricately related.
The premise of this theory of consciousness is simple, straightforward and logical and it simultaneously explains all of our observations about life as noted earlier. Proving it experimentally however will be daunting, but if it can be proved to be correct, then it could help explain the possibility of the continuation of life after the termination of biological activity, so called death. For if consciousness is a property of an energy and energy can neither be created nor destroyed but only gets transformed, as enshrined in one of the cardinal laws of physics – the first law of thermodynamics – then it could be concluded that consciousness never ‘dies', but perhaps continues in a different form in an afterlife after biological activity stops.
"It is enough for me to contemplate the mystery of conscious life perpetuating itself through all eternity, to reflect upon the marvelous structure of the universe which we dimly perceive, and to try humbly to comprehend an infinitesimal part of the intelligence manifested in nature." - Albert Einstein.
"Let us accept the world is a mystery. Nature is neither solely material nor entirely spiritual. Man, too, is more than flesh and blood; otherwise, no religions would have been possible. Behind each cause is still another cause; the end or the beginning of all causes has yet to be found. Yet, only one thing must be remembered: there is no effect without a cause, and there is no lawlessness in creation." - Albert Einstein.
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1 comment
As incredible as it may sound to some people—and let’s be honest – there is almost a sci-fi quality to it—every fibre of my being tells me that this is the correct theory. It just fits. It just checks too many boxes. I really hope we can find a way to prove this, one day.