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Can the universe be thought of as a network?

In shortThe universe thought of as a network is the largest imaginable web of entities and relations — fractal, because each entity again consists of infinitely many. This lens is an image for thinking, not a claim about physics: it suggests that nothing truly arises or vanishes, but that relations only change their state — between empty, active and passive. A relation that was once active never becomes empty again.

The problem as a graph

Zoom all the way out: stars, matter, energy and even empty space stand in relation as entities. The glowing edges are the active relations we perceive right now; the dimmed one is passive, once active before; the pale one is an empty relation that has never been activated. This is an image, not physics.

Graph as text

Energy → Matter (active)
Matter → Space & time (active)
Matter → Burned-out star (passive)
Burned-out star → Matter (active)
Matter → Life / observer (active)
Space & time → The not-yet-arisen (empty)

Step by step

Zoom all the way out: collapse everything you know into a single entity — the universe — and ask what it consists of.
Sketch the big entities as nodes: matter, energy, space and time, stars, life. Connect them with the relations you recognise.
Mark the states: which relations are glowing right now (active)? Which were once active and now rest (passive)? Which have never been activated (empty)?
Zoom into one entity — a star, an atom — and watch a whole network open up again inside it. That is the fractal movement.
Follow the guiding thought “Everything already exists. There is no end”: a burned-out star does not vanish, its relation turns passive, its matter activates new relations.
Hold on to the fact that this is a lens for wonder and order — an image that stands beside the real physics of the cosmos.

Seen through the model

Imagine zooming out so far that the whole universe becomes a single node. Zoom back in and that node breaks into galaxies, each galaxy into stars, each star into atoms, each atom again into a web of entities and relations. That is exactly what the second axiom means: every entity consists of infinitely many more — the network never ends as you go inward.

Now take a star that burns out after billions of years. In this lens it does not vanish: the relation that made it shine turns passive, and its matter activates new relations — dust, planets, perhaps one day life. This makes the guiding thought “Everything already exists. There is no end” vivid: a relation that was once active never becomes empty again, it only swings between active and passive.

What matters: this is an image for thinking, not a physical finding. It does not claim that observation creates reality, and it replaces no cosmology. It is a lens that can make one way visible — seeing the whole as a connected network rather than a loose pile of things.

Frequently asked

How is everything in the universe connected?

In this way of thinking every entity stands in relation to others — from the atom to the galaxy. The universe is the largest fractal network: zoom out and everything becomes one node; zoom in and a new web opens inside each entity. It is an image of connection.

What does it mean that nothing is lost?

It refers to the guiding thought “Everything already exists. There is no end.” In this lens nothing truly vanishes — relations only change their state. What was once active becomes at most passive, never empty again. A burned-out star stays in the network, its matter activating new relations. This is meant poetically, not as a law of energy conservation.

Can the universe be thought of as a network?

Yes, as a way of thinking. You treat stars, matter, energy and space as entities and their interactions as relations. This helps to see the whole in an ordered, wondering way. It is explicitly a lens, not quantum mysticism — an image that stands beside physics, not one that replaces it.

Keep thinking

Last updated: 2026-06-28Sources