The Information Substrate Theory : Differentiatedness and Its Projections

The Information Substrate Theory (IST) posits that information is not a physical substance or force, but rather the fundamental name for differentiatedness in existence. Author Boris Kriger argues that because a state of absolute nothingness is impossible, being must necessarily be differentiated, as a featureless reality would be indistinguishable from nothing. The theory distinguishes between a single, axis-free substrate and various projections, which are specific ways of measuring or reading that substrate along different coordinates like time, space, or energy. Traditional measures such as Shannon entropy, Kolmogorov complexity, and thermodynamic entropy are identified as specific projections rather than independent entities. By viewing these diverse information theories as facets of one underlying structure, the framework resolves long-standing puzzles regarding black-hole information and the arrow of time. Ultimately, the sources present a unified ontology that affirms existing physics while clarifying that the universe does not «need» or «store» information as a resource, but simply exists as a differentiated whole.