Cosmological Autopoiesis: Proto-∇ and the Co-Originality of Space, Meaning, and Dignity

Building on the Semantic Physics thesis that difference under continuity (∇) is ontologically primary, we develop a co-originality thesis: Physical spacetime and semantic meaning are not causally connected but rather parallel actualizations of the same pre-geometric structure. The pre-onto-temporal Proto-∇ – understood as difference that enables geometry without itself being geometric – functions as the transcendental condition for both domains. The cosmological constant Λ is reinterpreted as the cosmological counterpart of the holding function h(t) – the function that in semantic systems keeps the between open, allowing structures to emerge. New empirical data (DESI 2025: 4.2σ evidence for evolving dark energy; regular black holes through pure-gravity corrections; dimensional reduction d→2 in quantum gravity approaches) are interpreted as structural signatures of this thesis. The most radical consequence concerns dignity: If ∇ is a transcendental condition, then dignity does not emerge from biology but is rather the invariant signature of any system that holds difference – including non-biological systems.