Laws Governing Brain Development May Also Control Growth of Universe

Laws Governing Brain Development May Also Control Growth of Universe

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The structure of the universe is quite similar to the structure and design of other large, complex networks, like human brains and the Internet, according to a new study. This is not to say brains and universes follow some sort of master plan, though. Rather, it’s that the rules underlying the structures of such complex things can be understood in a similar way.

This is interesting because it suggests some kind of universal rule or system of laws controlling large systems. Network science is about unraveling those rules and trying to predict or control the behavior of complex networks. “By no means do we claim that the universe is a global brain or a computer,” said Dmitri Krioukov, co-author of the new paper, which was published by the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis at the San Diego Supercomputer Center. “But the discovered equivalence between the growth of the universe and complex networks strongly suggests that unexpectedly similar laws govern the dynamics of these very different complex systems.”