Version Major: Property Is Memory: A Unified Ontology of Matter, Life, Consciousness, Gravity, and the Cosmos

Abstract: This paper proposes that memory is the fundamental property of matter and life, and that what physics calls "properties" are the present expressions of historical records. The framework is grounded in the quantum no-deleting theorem (Pati & Braunstein, 2000), which establishes that information can never be destroyed—only redistributed. Building upon the author's prior work on the primacy of space (Majeed, 2026a), https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21669432 photon fragmentation (Majeed, 2026d), https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21893157 and the deterministic reinterpretation of optical phenomena (Majeed, 2026e–f), https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22049738 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22261158 the paper argues that mass, charge, spin, velocity, quantum state, and entanglement are frozen memories of cosmic phase transitions and past interactions. Fundamental constants are local memories of symmetry breaking, fundamental only within our region of space. The paper develops a hierarchy of memory ranging from physical (mass, spin) through chemical (bonding) to biological (DNA, neural patterns) and reflective (consciousness), proposing that consciousness is self-aware memory at high complexity. It further connects this framework to the author's fragmentation model, proposing that the cosmic "vapor"—the residue of photon decay—constitutes a vast reservoir of universal memory, the "autobiography" of the universe. The framework is developed as part of a broader unified research programme that includes the author's Cosmic Tornado Spin Driven Gravity model (Majeed, 2026b–g), https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19897292 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19928164 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19957163 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20451549 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20682723 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20777881 which proposes that gravity is a flow of cosmic energy rather than a fundamental force. The two frameworks are mutually reinforcing: gravity is the dynamic flow of memory through space, while mass is the frozen memory of energy condensation. The paper is empirically equivalent to standard physics at the level of prediction, except where it makes distinct testable predictions—most notably the Multiple Glass Plate Experiment (Majeed, 2026g). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22261158 Its contribution is therefore ontological: it reframes properties as memory, laws as the grammar of memory, and death as the transformation rather than the annihilation of memory. The paper concludes that life and memory are not confined to biology but are a spectrum of participation in the divine creative act—from the minimal participation of the electron to the reflective participation of the human being. The universe is not a dead machine with a few living accidents; it is a living process in which every particle, from the smallest quark to the largest galaxy, remembers itself into being and participates in the divine creative act. This Version DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23126045