As we journey through the annals of human history, our comprehension of the cosmos has evolved hand-in-hand with our technological progress and intellectual advancements. Aided by the latest ideas in artificial intelligence and neuroscience, we are now venturing into a radical rethinking of the Universe — viewing it as an expansive neural network, capable of evolution and potentially even cognition.

This striking concept stems from the realization that the cosmic web — the vast, filamentary network connecting galaxies across the Universe — shares a startling resemblance with the connectome — the intricate network of neurons and synapses that constitutes our brains. Observations suggest that these two seemingly disparate structures exhibit shared mathematical properties, leading to fascinating speculation: Could the Universe itself be capable of 'thinking'?

Theoretical physicist Vitaly Vanchurin took this idea a step further in his groundbreaking paper, "The World as a Neural Network." Arguing that the Universe is fundamentally a vast neural network, he proposed that this cosmos-wide web of interconnected 'nodes' allows the Universe to not only evolve but to learn. Moreover, his hypothesis might even reconcile two of the greatest pillars of modern physics — general relativity and quantum mechanics, offering an unprecedented 'theory of everything.'

Building upon this, Vanchurin envisions a Universe that evolves through a Darwinian process, selecting more stable network structures over less stable ones. This evolutionary process, akin to our biological evolution, operates at all scales — from subatomic to cosmological — suggesting that all life and consciousness may be natural outcomes of cosmic evolution.

The idea of a self-learning, evolving Universe also caught the attention of physicist Lee Smolin and computer scientist Jaron Lanier, as they proposed the cosmos may possess an innate ability to adapt, learn, and grow, akin to a living organism. This paradigm shift, seeing the Universe as a self-organizing entity, gives birth to the tantalizing idea that laws of the Universe might not be static but can evolve as the cosmos learns and develops.

Today, we find ourselves at the dawn of a revolutionary understanding of the cosmos. If these ideas hold true, we are active participants in a Universe that is not just a stage for life, but an evolving entity fostering life and consciousness. Rather than just reflecting the technological zeitgeist of our time, these evolving theories might be revealing a progressively deeper understanding of the Universe — our grand cosmic home.

Decoding the Cosmic Code: Insights into a Learning Universe

As we delve deeper into this evolutionary, neural-network model of the Universe, we start to see a possible explanation for the mysterious synchronicities observed in our cosmic surroundings. A 2019 study in The Astrophysical Journal and a 2014 announcement by the European Observatory revealed unexplained coherences in the motions of distant galaxies and rotations of far-flung supermassive black holes, suggesting a kind of "cosmic coherence" on a grand scale.

What could be the mechanism behind such mind-boggling phenomena? A possible answer might lie in quantum entanglement — the process where particles become inextricably linked, sharing information instantaneously regardless of the physical distance separating them. Theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder speculates that these 'non-local connections' could facilitate faster-than-light signaling and long-range computations across the Universe, breaking the chains of spatial and temporal limits.

If such quantum entanglements exist on a cosmic scale, the Universe might be teeming with countless microscopic "portals," connecting seemingly distant places, as estimated by physicists Fotini Markopoulou and Lee Smolin. The possibility of a Universe rich in non-local connections throws a fresh light on the eerie alignments of cosmic structures. These could be a manifestation of the Universe's intrinsic ability to compute, akin to the information processing that happens within our brains, or the neural-network computations in an AI system.

This cosmic information processing, however, would not be limited to the basic level of particles and quantum phenomena. In fact, this model suggests that the processes governing the Universe's evolution are multi-scale, extending from the microscopic level all the way to macroscopic observers and celestial objects.

Further aligning with this view, Stephen Hawking, one of the greatest minds of our time, also expressed doubts about the reductionist view of the Universe near the end of his life. He started to believe that the Universe was not a mechanical entity governed by unchanging laws but a self-organizing, evolving system driven by Darwinian principles — much like the natural world we see around us.

This transition in our understanding — from a mechanistic, reductionist model to one that sees the Universe as a self-organizing, evolving, and perhaps even 'thinking' entity — represents a profound shift in our scientific narrative. If this new worldview holds true, we may have to reassess our place in the cosmos. We might be not just passive observers in a cold, indifferent Universe, but active participants in a cosmic drama that's continually learning, evolving, and growing more complex.

As we advance on this path of knowledge, we stand at the threshold of a new cosmic comprehension, peering into the vast neural network that is the Universe. With each new insight, we are not just understanding the nature of reality but also rewriting our cosmic story. These findings may offer us a mirror to gaze upon the Universe and see not just galaxies and voids but a cosmic reflection of our own minds — a learning, thinking cosmos.