Abstract
I present compelling arguments for the ontological primacy of matter in the nature of physical reality, by examining the premises of creation, existence and dissolution of information. A clear distinction between matter and its physical states that translates to the distinction between bits and their information states is established to arrive at this result, directly from requirements of quantum measurement. Then it is shown that this alone allows the exponential measure of the information potential of a finite amount of matter. En route the argument, I point out that the consistency of black hole thermodynamics also requires the ontological priority of matter over information. I conclude with a discussion of the universe as matter and its self-referential information landscape.
CS Unnikrishnan