The Computational Structure of the Cosmos: Unified Scaling, Identity, and Propagation in the Computed Universe Model

This paper investigates the emergence of structure and complexity in the Computed Universe (CU) model — a physical framework in which all phenomena arise from discrete causal updates propagating over a voxelated spacetime substrate. The CU model offers a mechanistic explanation for the appearance of structure at all scales, from atomic to biological and cosmic, rooted in layered surface update propagation and information-theoretic constraints.<br>Key contributions include:<br>A framework for <b>layered emergence</b>, where complexity arises from interactions across nested causal surfaces.Discussion of <b>feedback mechanisms</b> and memory formation within a finite propagation medium.Explanation of how <b>life, order, and organization</b> are not improbable anomalies but inevitable outcomes of causal saturation in sparsely utilized regions.Clarification of entropy and complexity as computable features of the voxel substrate rather than statistical abstractions.Demonstration that complexity is maximized at the interface between surface propagation constraints and environmental sparsity — forming the optimal conditions for adaptation, consciousness, and intelligent systems.<br><br>The paper establishes that structure is not merely tolerated within the CU model — it is a mathematically and causally favored outcome. This has profound implications for cosmology, origin-of-life research, artificial intelligence, and the anthropic principle.<br>This work extends the CU series by grounding the appearance of order, adaptation, and intelligence in first principles, and by showing that the universe’s information architecture enables — and favors — the emergence of structure.