This whitepaper advances a foundational thesis inverting conventional ontology: geometric shapes constitute the primary ontological category from which all physical phenomena derive. Rejecting the derivative view that treats geometry as descriptive framework imposed upon pre-existing material substances, we demonstrate that shapes—understood as relational structures, topological invariants, and information-theoretic patterns—determine the properties and dynamics of physical reality. Drawing on developments at the interface of quantum gravity, quantum information theory, and condensed matter physics, we examine the Geometry-Information Duality framework, holographic entanglement entropy (Ryu-Takayanagi formula, quantum extremal surfaces), and the informational stress-energy tensor. The thesis aligns with Ontic Structural Realism while extending to shape space realism, where dimensionless, scale-invariant descriptions eliminate absolute structure. Applications span from AdS/CFT correspondence and black hole information paradox resolution to quantum shape effects in nanoscale systems and Calabi-Yau compactifications in string theory. We argue that the effectiveness of mathematics in physics reflects not descriptive convenience but direct articulation of fundamental structures that constitute reality—shapes in their most generalized, physical sense.
Stephen Hope (2026) studied this question.