This paper systematically proposes the Theory of Meta-Information from the perspective of philosophical ontology, establishing Meta-Information as the first principle of the universe—ontologically prior to matter, energy, and spacetime. Meta-Information exhibits four core attributes: Immateriality, Universal Permeability, Dynamic Coupling, and Topological Evolution. It drives the evolution of universal existence through three fundamental laws—the Law of Coupling Constraint, the Law of Convergence-Divergence Recurrence, and the Law of Topological Phase Transition—permeating the full hierarchy of the cosmic source, the physical world, life systems, and consciousness activity. Transcending the cognitive opposition between reductionism and holism, this theory achieves the unification of the underlying logic governing physical laws, biological evolution, and the emergence of consciousness, providing a conceptual framework at the primordial level for frontier issues such as quantum gravity unification and the black hole information paradox. Its derivative theories, namely CDGM Theory and Higher-Dimensional Information Topological Dynamics, have been constructed at the level of concrete scientific theories with OSF DOI confirmation. This work elevates human cognition from dependence on physical vehicles to the exploration of primordial universal laws, offering a novel theoretical paradigm and methodological support for the study of complex systems and the cognition of universal existence.
Wang et al. (Wed,) studied this question.