I propose that physical reality operates as an information-processing system where spacetime itself is the substrate. This model suggests that what we observe as dark matter and dark energy are not mysterious invisible substances, but rather geometric effects from overlapping universe structures—similar to how two droplets of water merge and create surface tension, ripples, and density variations. Additionally, I argue that all possible futures already exist within this information structure, and what we experience as consciousness is the process of selecting a path through this predetermined lattice of outcomes. This framework naturally explains several puzzling observations in modern physics without requiring new particles or forces.
Modern physics has a credibility problem. When observations don't match our theories, we've gotten into the habit of inventing invisible things to make the math work. Dark matter supposedly makes up 27% of the universe, dark energy another 68%, yet we've never directly detected either one despite decades of searching and billions in funding.
This isn't science—it's accounting. We're balancing the books by adding entries we can't verify. Every time we've done this historically (aether, phlogiston, luminiferous ether), we've eventually been proven wrong. So maybe it's time to question whether we're asking the right questions.
Instead of asking "what invisible stuff could explain this?", I started from a different observation: everything around us behaves like a fluid when you look at it the right way.
Air flows. Traffic flows. Crowds flow. Information flows through networks. Even spacetime itself ripples and flows when gravitational waves pass through it. This isn't coincidence—it's revealing something fundamental about how reality is structured.
Fluid behavior emerges whenever you have three things: local interactions (things only affect nearby things), conservation laws (stuff doesn't just appear or disappear), and many small parts creating smooth bulk behavior. Spacetime has all three of these properties.
Here's the core idea: imagine two droplets of oil floating in water. When they touch, they don't just sit there—they merge. And when they merge, several things happen:
Now, what if our universe is currently merging with another universe, and we're watching this process happen in slow motion over billions of years?
This isn't inventing new physics. It's just geometry and fluid dynamics applied to universe-scale structures. The same math that describes merging water droplets could describe merging universes, because both are information systems obeying conservation laws.
If universes merge like droplets, what's the "substance" that's flowing? I think it's information itself.
Consider this: every weird feature of quantum mechanics and relativity looks suspiciously like a computational constraint:
None of this proves we're in a simulation. But it strongly suggests that physical reality operates according to information-processing rules. Spacetime isn't just where things happen—it's an active computational substrate.
This is where it gets interesting. I've spent years building AI systems, and I've noticed something: AI doesn't create responses—it selects them from a pre-existing possibility space. When you prompt an AI, all possible responses already exist mathematically. The AI just calculates probabilities and picks a path through that space.
What if reality works the same way?
Right now, you could choose to keep reading, or stop and get coffee, or close this tab entirely. In a traditional view, the future is undefined until you choose. In my model, all three futures already exist as branches in the information structure. Your consciousness is about to traverse one of those branches based on your decision.
You experience it as "free will" because you're genuinely choosing. But the branches you're choosing between were already there. You're navigating, not creating.
This explains several things that are hard to account for otherwise:
The standard model of cosmology requires us to believe that 95% of the universe is made of stuff we can't detect, don't understand, and have never seen. My model explains the same observations using only:
No new particles. No mysterious forces. Just structure and architecture doing what structure and architecture naturally do.
A theory is only useful if it makes predictions we can check. Here's what this model predicts:
They have, partially. Digital physics researchers like John Wheeler ("it from bit"), Stephen Wolfram (computational universe), and Seth Lloyd (universe as quantum computer) have all proposed that reality is fundamentally informational. My contribution is connecting that insight to cosmological observations through the merger model.
The resistance comes from institutional momentum. If you've spent your career searching for dark matter particles, it's professionally difficult to consider that maybe there are no particles to find. It's easier to keep looking than to admit the paradigm might be wrong.
I'm not claiming this model is definitely correct. I'm claiming it's worth investigating because:
What I can't provide (yet) is the full mathematical formalism. I see the architecture clearly, but translating architectural intuition into rigorous tensor calculus requires collaboration with someone who has that specific training.
That's why I'm publishing this openly. Maybe someone reading this has the mathematical tools to formalize what I'm describing. Maybe experimental physicists will see ways to test these predictions. Maybe it will inspire someone to think about these problems differently.
Reality behaves like an information-processing system because, at the deepest level, that's what it is. Spacetime is the substrate. Physical laws are the operating constraints. What we call "matter" and "energy" are patterns in that substrate. Consciousness is a process running on it.
Dark matter and dark energy aren't mysterious invisible substances—they're geometric effects from universe overlap, visible in the same way that surface tension and ripples are visible when droplets merge.
The future isn't undefined until you choose—all possible futures exist, and consciousness is the process of traversing that branching structure. You have free will because you're genuinely choosing which branch to take. But the branches themselves were always there.
This isn't final truth. It's a framework for thinking about observations that currently don't make sense. If it's wrong, hopefully it's wrong in an interesting way that points toward something better. And if it's right, even partially, then we've been looking for dark matter in all the wrong places—we should have been looking at geometry.
Acknowledgment: This framework emerged from years of building AI systems and observing how information processing behaves at different scales. The cross-domain pattern recognition that led to these insights is detailed in my cognitive profile at legaspi79.com.
Contact for Collaboration: I'm actively seeking partnerships with physicists, mathematicians, or researchers interested in formalizing or testing these ideas. Contact: [email protected]
Version: 1.0 — November 2025