YouTube God Ray William Johnson -- The Internet is Powered By Cats

Ray William Johnson is a cyber-legend -- with more than 1.4 BILLION views on his YouTube channel -- and last night, he revealed a shocking secret about the Internet ... IT'S CONTROLLED BY CAT PEOPLE!!!

Johnson -- who hosts the YouTube series "Equals 3" -- tells us, nothing goes viral faster than a video with a hapless feline (or a cute baby) ... and if you can capitalize on that, you'll be making bank as a YouTube star in no time.

RWJ also takes credit for launching Nyan Cat to infamy -- a viral video with nearly 50 million views (below). What have we become?