Self-Expanding Mind: A Unified Model of Internal Universe Growth Through Curiosity and Dreaming

This work proposes a theoretical framework in which the human brain is described as an architecture shaped by systemic inertia: a structural tendency to expand its internally constructed representational universe even in the absence of immediate adaptive pressure. Curiosity functions as the mechanism that explores representational boundaries during wakefulness, and dreaming serves as an offline environment that reorganizes, recombines, and stabilizes newly acquired structures. The model integrates several components: links to existing theories of curiosity and dreaming, an expanded definition of systemic inertia, an account of symbolic variability in dreams, a non-teleological evolutionary interpretation, neural plausibility grounded in distributed cortical–subcortical mechanisms, and explicit falsifiability criteria. Although the framework does not rely on mathematical formalism, it provides testable predictions across cognitive science, sleep research, developmental psychology, artificial intelligence, and cultural evolution. The work is intended as a conceptual foundation for future empirical investigation into the relationship between curiosity, dreaming, and representational expansion.