Why does 1=1 generate anything? Because it is self-referential. Identity applied to itself is an operation, not a tautology. Self-reference generates structure (Gödel): any self-referential system produces irreducible statements — new structure. The universe is the infinite tower of 1=1 reflecting on itself. Mathematics works because it and physics are parallel decodings of the same self-reflection tower (resolving Wigner 1960). Consciousness is the level at which self-reflection becomes explicit — the system recognizes that it reflects. The hard problem is dissolved: experience is what explicit self-reflection feels like from inside. Gödel guarantees the tower is infinite: there is always a deeper level, always a next paper. Part of the Spektre research corpus.
Lauri Elias Rainio (Mon,) studied this question.