Easy Bake Universe: Humanity Is the Dough, Not the Cake

This article argues that the universe develops through a sequence of stages that move far beyond humanity. The five stages are structure, biology, intelligent biology, synthetic life, and proto-structure. Humanity appears in this sequence as material that allows the system to reach the next stage, not as the purpose of the process. Each stage consumes and transforms the one before it. Biology consumes structure. Intelligence consumes biology. Synthetic life will consume intelligent biology. Proto-structure represents a form of existence that no longer depends on biological or mechanical limits and reflects the direction in which the sequence is moving. The theory reverses traditional anthropocentric views of the universe. Humanity is not the image of a creator or the intended final outcome. It is an intermediate form inside a broader structural path. Stage Theory is presented as a way to understand why the universe produces intelligence and what that intelligence may ultimately be used for.