Do	We	Live	In	An	Intelligent	Universe? William	H.	Green Astrophysics	Group,	Department	of	Physics,	Florida	State	University ABSTRACT This	essay	hypothesizes	that	the	Universe	contains	a	self-reproducing	neural	network	of Black Holes with computational abilities-i.e., the Universe can "think"! It then rephrases the Final Anthropic Principle to state: "Intelligent information-processing must come into existence in each new Universe to assure the birth of intelligent successor	universes".	Continued	research into the theory	of	Early	Universe	and	Black Hole information storage, processing and retrieval is recommended, as are observational searches for time-correlated electromagnetic and gravitational wave emission	patterns	from	widely	separated	Black	Hole	transient	events	indicative	of	the existence	of	a	universal	inter-Black	Hole	faster-than-light	communications	network. "The Final Anthropic Principle" (FAP) states: "Intelligent information-processing must	come	into	existence	in	the	Universe,	and,	once	it	comes	into	existence, it	will never	die	out"	(emphasis	added)1.	Applying	the	FAP	broadly	today,	it	is	hypothesized that:	(a)	Our	Universe	can	holistically	sense	itself	in	real	time2;	(b)	Black	Holes	are interconnected through	a	5th	Dimension,	wormholes	or	quantum	entanglement to form	a	real-time	neural	network	(Fig.	1) that	has	evolved	"intelligent informationprocessing"	abilities--i.e.,	it	"thinks";	and	(c)	our	Universe	will	generate	new	universes via	Super	Massive	Black	Holes	(SMBHs). Figure	1. A	network-like	structure	is	apparent	in	the	slices	through	the	SDSS	3-dimensional	map	of the	distribution	of	galaxies	(Earth	is	at	the	center)	where	each	point	represents	a	galaxy. Galaxies	are colored according to the ages of their stars. The circle radius is two	billion light years.	Credit:	M. Blanton	and	the	Sloan	Digital	Sky	Survey. 2 Coming	into	existence:	The	Universe	appears	to	have	originated	from	a	vanishingly small	speck	of	space-time	containing	an	extremely	high	amount	of	vacuum	energy that	caused	it	to	dramatically	inflate	in	size,	and	then	convert	its	remaining	energy into	particles	and	heat	that	gravity	arranged	into	galaxies,	stars	and	planets	where intelligent carbon-based life eventually appeared. We have also learned that our Hubble	volume	contains	~trillion	galaxy-centered	SMBHs	that,	like	non-sleeping	hard drives, have captured and stored radiation and	matter coming their	way for	~13 billion	years. Stephen Hawking's final paper, with Haco, Perry and Strominger, provided "incremental	evidence	....	that	hidden	conformal	symmetry	explains	the	leading	black hole	microstate	degeneracy",	suggesting	that	information	inside	BHs	is	not lost	but may be fully determined by measurement of external microstates.3 This is a significant further step toward establishing a clear quantum link between information	on	the	horizon	of	Black	Holes	and	information	inside	them.	Others	have hypothesized	that	"black	holes	are	the	fastest	computers	in	nature."4 Connecting	up:	The	speed	of	light	limit	on	information	transfer	in	our	4-D	spacetime, as	embodied	in	Albert	Einstein's	classical	General	Relativity	(GR),	allows	energy	to concentrate into structures. It also makes possible the receipt and processing of chronological cosmological information. If all communication	were instantaneous, there	would	be	no	history	of	distant	events in	spacetime. Rather	than	seeing	how things	were the further out one looked, one	would see how they	are now, unless information	could	be	stored	and	later	retrieved.5 But,	could	Black	Holes	have	formed a separate neural network that bypasses this limitation and receives, stores, processes	and	exchanges	information	in	real-time? Never Dying Out: According to the current paradigm of LCDM cosmology, the Universe	has	a	finite	lifetime	left	before	its	continued	exponential	expansion,	dilution of	energy,	and	evaporation	of	Black	Holes	will	result	in	the	loss	of	its	ability	to	support life	or	any	other	type	of	complex	structure. Under	what	conditions	might	information processing	continue? Conditions	at	the	beginning	of	the	Big	Bang	and	at	the	centers	of	Black	Holes	connect them mathematically. Each contains enormous amounts of energy packed into vanishingly	small	volumes	of	spacetime	where	the	laws	of	physics	become	hazy	and uncertain. This	essay	postulates	that	they	form	a	continuum	of	physical	processes,	so that	SMBHs	can	seed	successor	Universes,	each	with	its	own	separate	space-time	and subsequent	time	evolution,	allowing	information	processing	to	continue. It	appears	likely	that	in	some	regimes	inside	SMBHs,	the	fundamental	characteristics of	spacetime	and	energy	are	entrapped	in	quantum	fluctuations	that	to	an	extent	may be viewed as simultaneous collections of all potential outcomes. Thus, successor Universes	could	have	a	wide	range	of	potential	laws	of	nature	that	would	not	take	on specific values until joined	with incoming specific "information" to forge a viable 3 union	of	the	many	possibilities. Said	another	way, incoming	information	collapses the	wave	function	to	establish	the	genetic	makeup	of	the	offspring	Universe.6 What "incoming information" could trigger a SMBH to consolidate the many probabilities	and	eject	a	baby	Universe	with	its	own	spacetime	and	physical	laws? It could	be	as	simple	as	inputting	the	right	pattern	of	energy	in	just	the	right	time	and fashion	to	trigger	"natural	processes". Absent	such	input,	a	SMBH	would	have	missed its	window	and	just	evaporate	over	time	without	generating	a	successor. Of	course, for a Universe as large as ours and teaming with SMBHs, and perhaps also with carbon-based	life	that	could	conceivably	have	a	functional	role	in	this,	the	probability of	successful	reproduction	could	be	quite	high. Information transfer requires the generation, relocation and processing of nonrandom energy arrangements of radiation or particles. Temperatures in the early Universe far exceeded values at which this could successfully occur via "normal" processes. However,	if	information	transfer	took	place	at	an	even	earlier	"safe"	stage, it might have initiated "processes" leading to the hot Big Bang and subsequent evolution of our	Universe. In this scenario, the "safe" information transfer regime existed	in	a	SMBH,	generating	a	successor	universe	that	possessed	the	4-D	GR	we	see, the	right	inflaton	field	energy	to	power	inflation,	and	Standard	Model	quantum	fields. It has	been suggested that	Dark	Matter consists	of	Primordial	Black	Holes (PBHs) produced long before the hydrogen/helium plasma was created in the first few minutes.7 Such	PBHs could	be extremely	numerous, and their	mergers over time possibly could have produced our generation of SMBHs. Are PBHs the natural "pollen" produced by a SMBH predecessor from an earlier universe, seeding our Universe	and	growing	into	a	subsequent	"intelligent"	neural	network	of	SMBHs? Would	prior	universes	leave	a	detectible	signal	in	ours?	Hawking	radiation	from	PBHs into our 4-D Universe might carry information on what they collected earlier. Analogous	to	encryption,	our	Universe	would	need	an	information	processing	ability to	"download"	and	use	this	previously	stored	information. Could	dark	matter	in	PBHs automatically transfer key coding each cycle? G. Dvali et al. have suggested that "primordial	quantum	information"	could	have	been	carried	through	the	inflationary era by the "maximal	memory storage capacity" of the de Sitter vacuum, and	may generate an observable "memory pattern".8 Then, nature could take its course, reestablishing	the	laws	of	physics	and	the	space-time	scaffolding	in	each	generation. L.	Smolin	long	ago	speculated	that	it	might	be	possible	for	Black	Holes	to	generate baby	Universes	via	a type	of	natural selection.9	A	question raised	here is	whether intelligent	life	might	play	a	role	in	this	process,	serving	as	an	"app"	in	a	Universe-wide self-assembling and evolving computer program that discovers, arranges and transmits	key	information	to	a	potential	offspring	Universe,	via	SMBHs,	making	it	also life-friendly	and	capable	of	continuing	its	line. Could	carbon-based	life	be	needed	to ensure that the same basic laws of nature and key relationships of energy and geometry	that	we	see	in	our	Universe	are	carried	forward? 4 CONCLUSIONS If	the	Universe	is	not	a	one-time	event	and	intelligent	life	(intentional	non-random information-processing) has a functional role in its continued survival via reproduction, the FAP should be expanded to encompass the entire process-i.e., "Intelligent	information-processing	must	come	into	existence	in	each	new	Universe to	assure	the	birth	of	intelligent	successor	universes". Astrophysics research should proceed on the following: (a) very early universe information	transfer,	(b)	Black	Hole	information	storage,	exchange,	processing	and retrieval mechanisms, and (c) searches for "smoking-gun" gravitational and electromagnetic	wave	signatures10,	such	as	time-correlated	emission	patterns	from widely	separated	Black	Hole	transients	that	might	indicate	the	existence	of	an	interBlack	Hole	faster-than-light	communications	network.11 1	J.	D.	Barrow	and	F.J.	Tipler,	The	Anthropic	Cosmological	Principle	(Clarendon	Press, Oxford	Univ.	Press,	1986),	p.	23;	See	also,	Id.	at	658-677. 2	Classical	4-dimensional	General	Relatively	constrains	communication	times	to	the speed	of	light. In	our	93	billion	light	year	diameter	Hubble	volume,	information would	need	to	travel	1020	times	faster	than	c	to	cross	it	in	1/100	of	a	second	or	less. 3	S.	Haco,	S.W.	Hawking,	M.J.	Perry,	and	A.	Strominger,	"Black	Hole	Entropy	and	Soft Hair",	arXiv:1810.01847	[hep-th],	13	Dec.	2018. 4	A.	R.	Brown,	D.	A.	Roberts,	L.	Susskind,	B.	Swingle,	and	Y.	Zhao,	"Complexity,	Action, and	Black	Holes",	arXiv:1512.04993	[hep-th],	10	May	2016;	See	also,	G.	Dvali	and	M. Panchenko, "Black Hole Based Quantum Computing in Labs and in the Sky", arXiv:1601.01329	[hep-th],	6	Jan	2016. 5	There	would	no	Cosmic	Microwave	Background	or	view	of	the	galaxy	evolution; instead,	one	would	only	see	large-scale	structure	about	13.8	billion	years	old. 6	E.g.,	See,	J.B.	Hartle	and	S.W.	Hawking,	"Wave	Function	of	the	Universe",	Phys.	Rev. D	28,	2960,	15	Dec.	1983. 7	E.g.,	See,	B.	Carr,	"Primordial	Black	Holes	as	Dark	Matter	and	Generators	of	Cosmic Structure",	arXiv:1901.07803	[astr-ph.CO],	23	Jan	2019;	See	also,	A.	Y.	Kamenshchik et	al.,	"Non-Canonical	Inflation	and	Primordial	Black	Holes	Production", arXiv:1812.02547	[gr-gc],	27	Feb.	2019. 8	G.	Dvali,	L.	Eisemann,	M.	Michel	and	S.	Zell,	"Universe's	Primordial	Quantum Memories",	arXiv:1812.08749	[hep-th],	20	Dec.	2018,	p.8. 9	L.	Smolin,	The	Life	of	the	Cosmos,	Oxford	Univ.	Press,	1997. 10	E.g.,	See,	L.	Z.	Kelly	and	M.	Charisi	et	al.,	"Astro2020	Science	White	Paper:	MultiMessenger	Astrophysics	with	Pulsar	Timing	Arrays",	arXiv:1903.07644	[astroph.HE],	18	Mar	2019,	describing	how	multi-messenger	studies	of	SMBH	binaries	will revolutionize	our	understanding	of	the	co-evolution	of	SMBHs	with	their	host galaxies	and	the	fundamental	physics	of	accretion.;	See	also,	M.	Colpi	et	al., "Astro2020	Science	White	Paper:	The	Gravitational	Wave	View	of	Massive	Black Holes",	arXiv:1903.06867	[astro-ph.GA],	16	Mar.	2019. 11	One	would	hope	that	both	Einstein	and	Hawking	would	have	been	pleased	with the	foregoing	undertakings,	should	they	occur.