Informational Persistence as Structural Necessity

This paper argues that the global persistence of information is not an empirical postulate but a strict structural necessity, derivable from the minimal requirements of any stratified system architecture. The argument proceeds in three steps. First, drawing on the External Reference Paradox (ERP), it is shown that any stratified system requires a deterministic reference layer (𝐿1) whose persistence is independent of the finite, informational subsystem (𝐼2) it anchors. Second, a proof by contradiction demonstrates that if informational content were strictly co-terminus with its physical carrier — ceasing upon the carrier's dissolution — the functional stratification required by the ERP would collapse,…