Tier 1: Ontological Substrate (O1.x)

Type: 🏛️ Foundational
Scope: The Nature of Reality
Dependencies: Tier 0

O1.1 — REALITY IS COMPOSED OF INFORMATIONAL STATES, NOT SUBSTANCE

Type: 🟢 Primitive (ontological commitment)
Scope: Ontology, Metaphysics, Physics interface
Dependencies: M0.1, M0.3
Refutation Targets: Category error · Reduction success · Ontic remainder

CORE CLAIM	STRONGEST OBJECTION	DIRECT RESPONSE	GROUNDS (SUPPORT)	DEEPEST — REFUTATION TARGETS
Reality consists of informational states, not material substance	“You are denying substance realism; this collapses into anti-realism.”	Denying substance ≠ denying reality. States are real even if no substratum exists beneath them.	Modern physics does not posit substance—only state spaces, operators, and relations. There is no experimentally accessible ‘bare matter’.	Defeat A (Ontic remainder): Identify a measurable, irreducible substrate beneath state descriptions.Defeat B (Reduction): Reduce informational states fully to non-informational primitives.
There is no ontologically primitive “stuff”	“States must be states of something.”	That intuition assumes Aristotelian substance metaphysics. χ-grounded ontology allows state-without-substrate as primitive.	Quantum fields are not “things” but mathematical structures with excitations. GR spacetime is geometry, not substance.	Defeat: Show state-without-substrate is incoherent or inconsistent when formalized.

O1.2 — DIFFERENCE (DISTINCTION) IS ONTOLOGICALLY PRIMITIVE

Type: 🟢 Primitive
Scope: Ontology, Logic, Information
Dependencies: M0.1
Refutation Targets: Collapse to identity · Circularity · Non-instantiability

CORE CLAIM	STRONGEST OBJECTION	DIRECT RESPONSE	GROUNDS (SUPPORT)	DEEPEST — REFUTATION TARGETS
To exist is to differ	“Difference presupposes identity; you are reversing the order.”	Identity is definable only via invariance across differences. Difference is ontologically prior.	Information theory: no information without distinguishable states. Physics: observables require contrast.	Defeat A: Show identity can be defined without reference to difference.Defeat B: Provide an ontologically meaningful but distinction-free entity.
Absolute sameness implies non-being	“You’re redefining existence linguistically.”	This is not linguistic but structural: no difference → no state → no dynamics → no observables.	A universe with no distinctions is indistinguishable from nothing.	Defeat: Demonstrate a physically or logically coherent system with no distinctions but nontrivial behavior.

O1.3 — CHANGE IS FUNDAMENTAL, TIME IS DERIVED

Type: 🟢 Primitive
Scope: Ontology, Physics, Temporality
Dependencies: O1.2
Refutation Targets: Temporal necessity · Static ontology · Circular definition

CORE CLAIM	STRONGEST OBJECTION	DIRECT RESPONSE	GROUNDS (SUPPORT)	DEEPEST — REFUTATION TARGETS
Change is primitive; time is a bookkeeping parameter	“Time is fundamental; change happens in time.”	That reverses dependence. Time is defined as an ordering of changes, not their cause.	Relational time in GR; Wheeler–DeWitt equation lacks time; time emerges from correlations.	Defeat A: Show time can be defined without reference to change.Defeat B: Produce a changeless system with intrinsic time evolution.

O1.4 — POSSIBILITY SPACE IS REAL (NOT MERELY CONCEPTUAL)

Type: 🔵 Schema
Scope: Ontology, Modality, Quantum interpretation
Dependencies: O1.1, O1.2
Refutation Targets: Modal collapse · Epistemic-only possibility · Overgeneration

CORE CLAIM	STRONGEST OBJECTION	DIRECT RESPONSE	GROUNDS (SUPPORT)	DEEPEST — REFUTATION TARGETS
Possibility space is ontically real	“Possibilities are just descriptions of ignorance.”	That fails in systems where unactualized possibilities affect outcomes.	Quantum superposition and interference depend on unrealized paths.	Defeat A: Reproduce quantum interference with purely epistemic probabilities.Defeat B: Show possibility space has no causal or constraining role.

Section Navigation & Dependencies

You are here: §2.1 — Tier 1: Ontological Substrate

Purpose of this section:
Defines the kind of "something" reality is made of, prioritizing difference, change, and real possibility over static substance.