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Study Finds Similar Structures In the Universe, Internet, and Brain

SternisheFan writes "The structure of the universe and the laws that govern its growth may be more similar than previously thought to the structure and growth of the human brain and other complex networks, such as the Internet or a social network of trust relationships between people, according to a new study. 'By no means do we claim that the universe is a global brain or a computer,' said Dmitri Krioukov, co-author of the paper, published by the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA), based at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego.'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,' Krioukov noted."

5 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Shitstorm starting in 3, 2, 1, ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    'By no means do we claim that the universe is a global brain or a computer,' said Dmitri Krioukov, co-author of the paper

    Don't worry, 100,000 conservatives will draw an even better conclusion that you have proved that the Universe was intelligently designed, just like the brain.

    Other scientists will of course point out that these structures are due to nothing more special than 'math'. Bill O'Reilly will feature one of the crazier ones on his program to show how stupid they are.

  2. And the answer is 42 by NWprobe · · Score: 3, Funny

    Come on...we have all read the book. This is not news! :-)

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    #find /dev/brain find: no such file or directory
  3. another interesting relationship by lkcl · · Score: 3, Funny

    ok, i don't know if anyone else has spotted this, but there's a link between avogadro's constant, background radiation, and golden mean ratio.

    take the background radiation (number of hydrogen atoms per square metre). divide by golden mean ratio cubed. invert. the number, completely coincidentally, comes out to around 6.023e23.

    amazing, huh?

  4. Members of the Pythagorean cult by fsterman · · Score: 4, Funny

    Finding similarities in abstractions is what humans do. If humans can describe something based on patterns that humans are capable of processing, then we will probably find them elsewhere! Abstraction doesn't give us mystical powers that allow us to divine the "true nature" of the universe (let alone understand what that questions means).

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    Is there anything better than clicking through Microsoft ads on Slashdot?
  5. Re:CLOUD ATLAS by Genda · · Score: 4, Funny

    We are all connected. Our posts, Karma Whores and Trolls alike, give birth to Slashdot. Our insights and banal pontification ripple through time. From womb to tomb, some folks are addicted to spending all their waking hours brain farting here and the best you can hope for is to be up wind.