The universe started with a Big Bang.
At least, thats one way of looking at it.
Butemergent new theoriesandages-old philosophical assertionsare beginning to find a foothold in cutting-edge quantum physics research.
Thats not to say Earth or the Milky Way is at the geographical center of the universe.
Itd be arrogant to make such a literal assumption.
Im saying humans are the figurative center of the universe.
Because, theoretically, were gods.
Creating reality
This is a two-parter.
First we need to establish that the universe is conscious.
Heres a quote I found inMind Matters Newsthat explains it nicely.
We have, in a sense, two levels of consciousness.
The first is of experience.
We experience a flowers color and smell.
Therefore, we are conscious of it.
The second is that we are aware of our consciousness of it.
That is a meta-consciousness which we sometimes call reflection.
I reflect on my awareness of the flower.
Andersens referring to Will as an underlying force in the universe thats analogous to consciousness.
The gist is that everything is capableof experience.
If you kick a rock it experiences force, velocity, and gravity.
And, because it sort of doesnt exist.
Its not actually a rock, but a bunch of molecules smashed together.
And those arent molecules, really.
Theyre particles smashed together.
And so on and so forth.
Its kind of like Minecraft.
No matter what you build its all just ones and zeros on a computer chip.
Heres where things get cool.
The rock, for whatever reason, doesnt appear to experience secondary consciousness.
As Andersen explains it, the rock cannot reflect on its experience.
Were capable of reflecting on the reflections of others.
The rock can never choose not to fall, but humans can.
We can even choose to fly instead.
A post-human universe
The result of our existence is thatthe universes entire trajectoryis, potentially, changed.
Whatever the particles in the universe were going to do before humanity emerged,their course has been altered.
Who knows what changes weve wrought upon the cosmos.
What happens when we can traverse the universe?
Its possible theres an intelligent creator there somewhere chuckling right now.
Or perhaps the universes plan always included the inception and evolution of humans.
Butthe evidence, of which theres admittedly very little, says otherwise.
Perhaps our ability to reflect on consciousness itself is what allowsexperiential realityto manifest.
We think, therefore everything is.
