Ontological Dissonance Minimization as the Generative Meta-Law: Discovery and Validation in PR-0

We report that minimizing an ontological dissonance functional D—formulated within the Self-Defining Universe (SDS) framework—produces results empirically consistent with maximizing a spatial-integration proxy for integrated information within the PR-0 field-only substrate. In PR-0 experiments, D-minimization and -proxy-maximization independently discover a short-range binding potential V (d) + /d² for the strong interaction. Measured jointly on the same dynamical system (n=21 samples, single deterministic trajectory), D and ₚroxy exhibit a strong inverse correlation (r=-0. 9108, r²=0. 83, p<10^-9 after autocorrelation correction). Under physically motivated constraint-conditioned D, we obtain potential forms qualitatively consistent with (i) short-range binding for strong, (ii) Coulomb-like decay for electromagnetism, (iii) Yukawa-like screening for weak, and (iv) Einstein-like geometric coupling for gravity. These results provide preliminary empirical support for SDS as a generative principle and suggest a connection between dissonance minimization, spatial information integration, and emergent force structure. The constraints embed prior physical knowledge; deriving force constants from D analytically remains an open problem.