Information as Structural Difference: An Ontological Framework for Energy, Matter, Memory, Consciousness, and Emotion

Abstract

Information occupies a central position in modern physics and cognitive science, yet its ontological definition remains unclear. Shannon‑Weaver information theory defines information as the reduction of uncertainty, which falls within the epistemological domain. Physical information theory frequently associates information with entropy, but fails to address the fundamental ontological status of information in reality. This paper proposes a novel foundational distinction: the universe is constituted by two fundamental attributes — energy as dynamic occurrence, and information as the totality of structural differences. On this basis, matter can be understood as stable topological structures formed by the coupling of information and energy (light‑knots), and memory as residual structural traces left behind after structural perturbations. This paper further argues that the human body implements a two‑tier mechanism of distributed whole‑body storage and core‑loop retrieval. While light‑knot structures across somatic tissues can retain informational traces, only the brain, functioning as a continuously‑operating self‑referential closure, is capable of reading and comparing structural differences, thereby generating temporality, self‑awareness and phenomenal consciousness. Consciousness is neither an independent entity nor a neural by‑product, but a dynamic process: the very ongoing act in which the self‑referential closure compares incoming structural differences. Emotion is defined as an energy‑information hybrid response triggered when the self‑referential closure encounters a structural difference mismatched with its current configuration — a value‑response of the closure concerning its own existential stability. This model delivers a new ontological pathway toward the unification of consciousness and matter. Within a unified physical‑structural logic, it resolves long‑standing classical cognitive paradoxes, including self‑continuity after somatic mutilation and persistent self‑identity under whole‑body material metabolism. 中文摘要: 信息在现代物理学与认知科学中处于核心位置,但其本体论定义仍不清晰。香农信息论将信息定义为不确定度的减少,属于认识论范畴;物理信息论常将信息与熵关联,但未触及信息在世界中的根本位置。本文提出一个新的基础区分:宇宙底层由两种基本属性构成——能量是动态的发生,信息是一切结构差异的总和。在此基础上,物质可以被理解为信息与能量耦合形成的稳定拓扑结构(光结),记忆是结构被扰动后留下的差异痕迹。本文进一步论证:人体存在全域结构存贮、核心闭环读取的层级机制——全身光结结构可留存信息痕迹,但只有大脑作为持续运行的自指闭环,能够读取和比对结构差异,生成时间感、自我感和觉知。意识不是一种实体或副产物,而是一个动态过程:自指闭环持续比对结构差异时发生的那个动作本身。情绪则是自指闭环在接收到与当前结构不匹配的差异时产生的能量-信息混合响应,是闭环对自身存续状态的价值应答。本模型为意识与物质的统一提供了一条新的底层路径,并以统一的物理结构逻辑,解释了躯体残缺、物质代谢下的自我同一性等经典认知悖论。 关键词: 信息;能量;结构差异;光结;自指闭环;意识;情绪;本体论