Theory of Scale-Nested Cosmology: A Thought Experiment in Worldbuilding

Traditional cosmology, physics, and life science have long been framed by the cognitive standpoint of carbon-based life, mesoscopic scales, and classical physics—making it difficult to imagine a series of ultimate questions: the origin of consciousness, the fine structure of the universe, quantum anomalies, and the absence of observable extraterrestrial civilizations. Human definitions of life and civilization rely excessively on terrestrial experience, leaving a structural blind spot in our imagination of the universe. This essay proposes the Theory of Scale-Nested Cosmology—a self-consistent worldbuilding framework built on three postulates: all things are civilizations, scale is the barrier, and individual is a universe. A vertically infinite, hierarchically nested cosmic model—extending from the infinitely microscopic to the infinitely macroscopic—is constructed. Drawing inspiration from modern physics, astronomy, biology, and quantum mechanics, and integrating ultimate philosophies from both Eastern and Western traditions, the framework explores its speculative extensions in astronomical imagination, foundational physics, life sciences, energy engineering, interstellar travel, and artificial intelligence. This is not a scientific theory. It is a thought experiment that imagines a universe not as dead physical space, but as a living community of infinite levels, infinite scales, and infinite civilizations—where humans are merely a form of existence at a certain microscopic level within a gigantic cosmic living body; where consciousness is the fundamental attribute through which the universe observes itself; and where life and death are not endings, but transitions between hierarchical scales. 传统宇宙学、物理学与生命科学长期局限于碳基生命、中观尺度与经典物理的认知框架,难以想象意识起源、宇宙精细结构、量子怪异现象与可观测外星文明缺失等一系列终极难题。人类对生命与文明的定义过度依赖地球经验,对宇宙本质的理解长期存在结构性盲区。 本文提出尺度嵌套宇宙论——以"万物皆文明、尺度即壁垒、个体即宇宙"三大公设为核心,构建一套自下而上无限微观、自上而下无限宏观的宇宙模型。论文以现代物理学、天文学、生物学、量子力学成果为灵感来源,融通东西方哲学终极思想,并阐述该设定在天文想象、基础物理、生命科学、能源工程、星际航行与人工智能领域的推演方向。 这不是一项科学理论,而是一场思想实验:它想象一个并非死寂物理空间、而是无限层级、无限尺度、无限文明的生命共同体的宇宙;人类仅是宇宙巨型生命体中某一微观层级的存在形式;意识是宇宙的本源属性,是宇宙实现自我观测的载体;生死并非终结,而是尺度层级的切换。