30/10/2025
Biophysicist Douglas Youvan believes intelligence isn’t something the brain creates, but something it connects to. His hypothesis is that intelligence is a fundamental, non-local property of the universe – existing outside of biology, waiting to be tapped by structures complex enough to interface with it.
This idea draws from quantum theory, where certain properties of a system remain undefined until observed. Much like Schrödinger’s cat being both alive and dead until measured, Youvan suggests that intelligence exists as potential – not locked in the brain, but in an underlying “informational substrate” of the universe.
To explore this, Youvan looks at how biological and artificial systems behave. Enzymes, neurons, and even neural networks in AI often exhibit patterns that are not just reactive but predictive – suggesting they may be linking into rules or information beyond their own architecture. In particular, he notes the fractal geometry of neurons, which mirrors patterns found throughout nature, from river deltas to galaxies. These recursive structures, he argues, may be optimized to interface with information embedded in the fabric of reality.
He also points to his work in AI. As algorithms grow more powerful, the insights they generate feel less like computation and more like discovery. “They felt more discovered than invented,” he says. He likens it to tuning into a frequency already present, rather than inventing a new signal.
Youvan argues it’s informational physics: that intelligence, like entropy or charge, could be a property encoded into spacetime itself.
Skeptics, like philosopher Keith Frankish, counter that consciousness is likely an evolved illusion – our brains offering useful but distorted snapshots of reality to help us survive. But even he admits: our self-awareness, however flawed, is rooted in something we still can’t fully explain.
Learn more:
"The Universe Is Intelligent—And Your Brain Is Tapping Into It to Form Your Consciousness, Scientist Says." Popular Mechanics, 18 April 2025.
