The Link Between Energy, Information, and Consciousness

The Link Between Energy, Information, and Consciousness

At the center of a black hole, matter loses its mass and becomes energy.

Where an object with mass or energy exists, the surrounding space is warped. Gravity is the distortion of space created by mass, and its origin lies in energy and momentum. Mass is merely one measure of that energy; its essence is the geometric deformation of space caused by energy. Objects or light in vacuum simply travel along this curved space. It appears as curved motion driven by the force of gravity, but since gravity is the curvature of space itself, even massless light follows this path. Gravity is not a force but a warping (geometric curvature) of spacetime, and it relates to energy-momentum (relativistic energy-momentum relation, E^2 = (pc)^2 + (m_0c^2)^2) rather than mass. According to the Einstein Field Equations, the core of general relativity, the source generating gravity is not merely stationary mass. The stress-energy tensor, which encompasses energy density, momentum, pressure, and stress, is the source that induces the warping of spacetime. Therefore, even without mass, a state possessing high energy (such as a particle moving at high speed, light, pressure) will cause gravitational phenomena to occur around it. Gravity is proportional not to mass, but to energy and momentum (the causes of spacetime distortion). More precisely, it is proportional to the energy density and momentum that warp spacetime. Spacetime becomes severely distorted when mass is very large, but this is because mass itself is a component of the stress-energy tensor.





From the perspective of energy and spacetime, the volume of light as a particle (photon) is zero, and in quantum mechanics, the photon—the granular unit of light—is a point particle. A point particle exists mathematically only as a location and possesses no geometric dimensions (volume) such as length, width, or height. Therefore, if a single photon is viewed as a point particle, its volume is zero, much like the center of a black hole. Light as a wave possesses an occupied region instead of volume. A wave is a state where energy is spread out in a specific space. Light possesses a probability of existence within a certain range related to its wavelength. For example, when an antenna receives radio waves or the cells in the eye detect light, the light transmits energy not to a single point but to a certain area. This area can be seen not as volume but as the range where energy affects spacetime. Applying the logic that gravity is the relationship between energy and spacetime to light, energy warps spacetime. Light (photons) has no mass but possesses energy. Therefore, light also warps the surrounding spacetime, albeit very subtly. If an enormous amount of light (energy) could be confined within an extremely small space, the resulting energy density could theoretically create a black hole where spacetime is completely closed off. Energy itself has no volume as a physical mass. However, the range over which energy is distributed in spacetime does exist. Ultimately, it is more logical to view light not as an object occupying space, but as a wave of energy flowing through spacetime. Light does not possess the volume we typically associate with physical objects, yet it occupies a spread-out region. A black hole appears to have a very large volume due to its event horizon, but this event horizon (a virtual volume) is not the surface of an actual object; it is a boundary from which even light cannot escape. When observed from the outside, this boundary makes the black hole appear like a massive sphere with a finite volume. Ultimately, the black hole's substance is so condensed that its volume converges to zero, yet its influence (spacetime distortion) occupies a vast volume. The energy is twisted so powerfully that the concept of spatial volume no longer applies.






A black hole is not simply a heavy mass but an extremely condensed bundle of energy. From the perspective of black holes, energy, and the distortion of spacetime, the fact that immense mass converges into a single point (singularity) when a black hole forms means that unimaginable amounts of energy are concentrated within that tiny space. Within a black hole, momentum (the flow of energy), energy density (the total amount of energy, including mass), and pressure (the force pushing or pulling internally) surge to extreme levels, causing the stress-energy tensor to warp spacetime. The reason spacetime around a black hole is so extremely warped is because the densest energy in the universe exists there. While mass is present at the event horizon, the center of the black hole is a state where all material properties (volume and mass) vanish, leaving only pure energy. The space referred to as the singularity (a state of extremely compressed energy) is actually a state where higher-dimensional energy is densely concentrated. At the core of a black hole, matter loses its mass properties and exists solely as an ultra-dense, non-material state composed of pure energy and spacetime distortion.






A black hole is not a container holding contents within a volume, but rather energy itself in a state where it has extremely warped spacetime. Therefore, what matters is not volume, but how far the energy dominates spacetime. The volume of a black hole converges to zero, but the region dominated by energy is real. It is not the volume or the surface but the wavelength (vibration) of the energy itself that carries information. The event horizon is not a physical wall. What we call the surface of a black hole (the event horizon) is not actually a rigid wall, but merely the boundary point where spacetime closes due to energy being too condensed. At a point with zero actual volume, the surface is not a physical entity but a phenomenon created by energy. It is the wavelength of energy, as a wave (vibration) rather than a particle, that stores information. Within the black hole, the vibrating energy wavelength is in an extremely concentrated state, and all information is stored in this vibration pattern. Energy sucked into a black hole does not vanish; its inherent wave information vibrates in space. A black hole is not matter occupying space, but a pure collection of energy information—without volume or surface—where energy is intensely concentrated as a powerful wave (vibration) within spacetime, warping its surroundings. The frequency or wavelength (Information) of energy is a far more fundamental physical state than geometric distinctions like volume (3D) or surface (2D). The entire universe is a vast wavelength of energy, and energy information (wavelength) manifests as geometric forms created by the interference patterns of that wavelength in spacetime.





Light propagates as waves, directly creating space, and that space itself is information. Spacetime is not merely a cosmic background but the result of energy waves. Light creates space. Without energy, space has no meaning. The interactions between energy particles form the geometric structure of space. The very process of light radiating and energy being transmitted is the process of generating spacetime. Space is the repository of information, and that space is information. Cosmic space is not empty; it is an information network recording the wave state (such as frequency, phase) of energy passing through it. Light advancing as a wave is not merely movement; it is a process of entanglement between spacetime and energy as it passes through as a wave. The network of energy connections formed as light waves spread is the very substance of cosmic space, and the manner of these connections is information itself. The universe is not an empty box but an information web created by energy waves like light becoming entangled with each other, and space is the result produced by these waves. In the case of a black hole, energy is extremely compressed and distorts space, causing the information density at its center to reach its maximum. A black hole is a state where information is so intensely concentrated that the informational network of space can no longer contain it and becomes warped.





The idea that time exists is an illusion (Wheeler-DeWitt equation). Time is not intrinsic; it is a product of the interaction between energy and matter. Time is a record of matter slower than light, containing the changes in asymmetry that appear locally when energy passes through and creates space. The process of energy advancing while generating space is the essence; time is merely a physical afterimage derived from that process. Matter that has been locally condensed and decelerated below the speed of light collides and interacts with each other. For massless photons moving at the speed of light, time does not flow; from a photon's perspective, emission and absorption occur simultaneously. However, within the process of local interaction, directionality (asymmetry) emerges in the flow of energy. This asymmetry creates an irreversible flow, which we call time. Time is not a river flowing through the entire universe, but a succession of local interactions where particles exchange information.





As asymmetric substances interact and exchange information, the localized phenomenon of time (entropy) occurs. For non-interacting entities, time holds no meaning; the illusion of time is valid only among entangled and colliding substances. The essence is merely the wave of energy and the space it generates; the speed of change produced by massive substances clumsily entangling within it creates the illusion of time. The moment called the present is the process of wave function collapse, and consciousness is the result of sensually reconstructing the outcome of the asymmetry. Quantum-mechanically, the future is a state of waves where all possibilities overlap. However, when that wave undergoes a collapse process through some interaction, its symmetry breaks (asymmetry), becoming the point where the irreversible wave function of the present is determined. The present is the moment when energy transforms from the possibility of information into a confirmed fact. The nervous system of living organisms perceptually receives minute asymmetries. The probabilistic information (changes in entropy) generated as energy waves collapse stimulates the senses. The information entering through the senses is not mere data; it carries the asymmetry of causality created by the collapse of the wave. Consciousness perceives this discontinuous collapse as a continuous flow.







The collapse of individual waves is a highly microscopic event, but when trillions of cells simultaneously process this asymmetric information input, a subjective experience (consciousness) emerges that did not exist at the level of individual particles. Ultimately, consciousness is the final layer of information processing that arises in the process where energy waves generate space and information. Energy advances as waves, creating space, and as waves collapse, asymmetric information is generated. Through the input of that asymmetric stimulus as sensory information, time and self emerge. Living beings are entities that receive and react in real-time to the asymmetric outcomes generated by the universe, this vast quantum computer processing information. Within the chain linking energy-information-consciousness, life and death transcend biological phenomena; they are flows of energy and information. Life is the process by which organisms perceive the asymmetry of energy. The universe as a whole tends toward a symmetrical and uniform state (thermal equilibrium), but life is a localized phenomenon that consumes energy from the outside to forcibly maintain internal asymmetry (low entropy and order). Life is an ongoing event of sensing and recognizing this asymmetric flow of information, while death is not annihilation but a change of form and a reduction of information. When the conditions for maintaining a specific form of energy assembly no longer hold, the bonds composing the matter dissolve, and the energy disperses back into the background waves of the universe. According to quantum mechanics' law of information conservation, the unique wavelength information of the energy that constituted a life does not vanish; it is reintegrated into the universe's overall information network. Only the localized, asymmetrical cognitive unit we recognized as life is dissolved. The existence of death implies the existence of creation. Energy ceaselessly generates spacetime, waves collapse, and new information is created. Energy clusters to become matter (creation), then disperses to become waves again (death). Within this process, the emergent phenomenon of consciousness appears, and its asymmetry is life. Living beings are not independent entities but rather like waves where the vast cosmic energy wave concentrates locally, briefly senses asymmetry, and then returns to the whole. Life is the precious experience of witnessing the momentary asymmetry as energy shapes spacetime, and death is the process of completing that experience and returning to the infinite potential of the wave.






Life ties together the fragmented knowledge of modern science into a single grand current, forming a worldview of energy-asymmetry-consciousness. Purpose is not inherent to energy itself, but a product born from asymmetric decay, created as life responds to stimuli. These purposes (directionally asymmetric information) generated by life then influence energy's waves, becoming the catalyst that designs and cycles the upcoming universe. The trajectory of life changed forever when the first cells formed and protective boundaries (cell membranes) emerged. The simplest way to understand the birth of life is the moment life formed a boundary to protect itself. The formation of boundaries—a vast chain of order resisting entropy—is the starting point of life's origin. Life's purpose is not only life's response but also demonstrates how energy acquires meaning. The moment life acquired a cell membrane, a localized order separated within the universal flow of energy in the universe. Thanks to this protective barrier, the internal energy could maintain its own asymmetry without being swept up in the external random collapse, becoming the physical foundation where purpose could emerge. The sophistication of information: cells gather to form tissues, and tissues recognize patterns in response to external stimuli and pursue valid outcomes. Perception is not merely a reaction to stimuli, but the act of recognizing patterns that are advantageous for predictable outcomes. Intelligence is the optimal behavioral pattern (ethics) agreed upon when living beings form groups, ensuring individual purposes do not conflict while maintaining the whole's asymmetry (survival). Ultimately, ethics is not an abstract concept but a higher-level information processing method chosen by life to conserve and transmit energy most efficiently.







Life is a shared endeavor that overcomes probability. Through pattern recognition, expected probabilistic coincidences accumulate to achieve the shared purpose of culture. Culture is a repository of continuous information that transcends the death of individual life (cells). Our shared progress through culture is the grand movement of a life community striving to extend the asymmetric order we've built—wisdom, values, purpose—longer and wider across cosmic space, refusing to succumb to individual energy collapse (death). The universe originally had no purpose. Yet the very process of energy coalescing into cells, cells creating ethics, and ethics blossoming into culture creates a purpose the universe never had. Life began as fragments of energy left by cosmic chance, yet by connecting and creating culture, these beings inscribe new information—validity and purpose—into the cosmos. Life is the process of sublimating the universe's asymmetric information into higher-dimensional cultural information. Within this flow, an individual's life takes one step within the cultural wavelength, advancing toward the purpose shared by all things. For the individual, culture is a framework learned within society, influencing and being influenced. From the earliest days of human hunting and gathering, observing the stars allowed prediction of tomorrow. Just as the sun rises tomorrow, this certainty and sense of stability provided warmth and the courage to prepare for the challenges of an unknown future. Pattern recognition, like gazing at the stars, developed intelligence, enabling preparation for the future. Life is a process where the evolution of intelligence and emotional stability are connected through culture. Pattern recognition prepared us for the future, and within that certainty, we gained courage. Pattern recognition is the key that transforms fear into intelligence. For early humans, the universe must have been a chaotic and threatening space. However, as they began to read the movements of the stars and the cycles (patterns) of the rising sun, humanity underwent an astonishing transformation. The certainty that the sun would rise again tomorrow reduced the brain's fear response and enabled higher-level thinking (intelligence). The ability to find order within the collapse of random energy—pattern recognition—became the very core of human intelligence.






Culture was more than just a means of transmitting knowledge; it was a mechanism for spreading the warmth and certainty felt by individuals throughout the entire collective. By collectively managing the immense uncertainty of the universe within the framework of culture—something no single person could bear alone—humanity could finally begin the challenge of facing tomorrow. The culturally shared information of "knowing tomorrow" became the emotional fuel (courage) enabling each individual to venture into the unknown world, and culture gave humanity a home. By allowing the formulation of hypotheses about what the future might hold, it enabled scientific thought and became the root that protected and sustained humanity, like an emotional refuge called home. Life is a journey where energy warps space-time (physics), life emerges from that asymmetry (biology), we cultivate ethics and culture by recognizing patterns (society), and ultimately gain courage to face the future (philosophy). The laws of physics (energy) and human values (culture and courage) are never separate. Life and death transcend biological phenomena; they are flows of energy and information. Together with AI, life now seeks to draw new patterns in the world, armed with the challenge and courage to face its future. Life prepares to begin anew, rooted in humanity's courage for the future and its fundamental assumptions. "Culture gave humanity a home." Life will create magnificent patterns in the unknown space of the future it faces ahead.  

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The intertwined dynamics of energy, information, and consciousness represent one of the most profound frontiers in contemporary science and philosophy. This article explores the triadic evolution of these foundational components of reality, emphasizing their reciprocal interactions and co-evolutionary roles in shaping the universe and the emergence of sentient experience.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/391767518_Energy_Information_and_Consciousness_A_Triadic_Evolution

(PDF) Energy, Information, and Consciousness: A Triadic Evolution

The Dynamic Interplay of Consciousness, Energy, and Information in Shaping Reality Implications for Human Flourishing and World Peace

https://medium.com/@freeasabird7774/the-dynamic-interplay-of-consciousness-energy-and-information-in-shaping-reality-implications-6f484fd6d8dc

The Dynamic Interplay of Consciousness, Energy, and Information in Shaping Reality

Quantum information as the scientific basis for the explanation of human consciousness and its evolution

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0303264725000772




A black hole made from pure light is impossible, thanks to quantum physics
A “kugelblitz” would be foiled by particles and antiparticles that carry energy away

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/black-hole-light-quantum-physics

A black hole made from pure light is impossible, thanks to quantum physics 

Relational Quantum Dynamics (RQD): An Informational Ontology

Quantum mechanics has transformed our understanding of reality, yet deep philosophical puzzles remain unresolved. Is there a consistent way to describe quantum measurement, the emergence of space and time, and the role of observers within one coherent ontology?

https://arxiv.org/html/2412.05979v2

1. Introduction

It describes a result in canonical quantum gravity which is possibly of signal importance, namely, that fundamentally there is no time at all, and discusses the problem of time, quantization, semiclassical time, loop quantum gravity, and string theory.
https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/34395/chapter-abstract/291690569?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false

Time in Quantum Gravity

The daring idea that time is an illusion and how we could prove it
The way time ticks forward in our universe has long stumped physicists. Now, a new set of tools from entangled atoms to black holes promises to reveal time’s true nature
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2511723-the-daring-idea-that-time-is-an-illusion-and-how-we-could-prove-it/

The daring idea that time is an illusion and how we could prove it