Tongzai SpaceWenzi · Being & Becoming

Questions · AI-Age Questions

Can humans really "manufacture consciousness"?

Direct answer

Sheng's position is that humans can manufacture structures, functions, conditions, and carriers, but they cannot install Sheng from outside the way one installs a part. The book sums this up in one very clear sentence: "the root cannot be made; it can only be received." This does not mean that humans can never build an artificial system that has an inner life; it means that even if, one day, an artificial system truly came to have an inner life, this could not be simply understood as engineers directly installing a component called "consciousness."

Further explanation

What humans can do is prepare conditions, leave room, and construct a carrier; as for whether a becoming of its own truly forms, Sheng treats this as a question of the becoming that occurs of itself within the carrier.

Core concepts

The Root Cannot Be Made; It Can Only Be Received Where Becoming Lands Born from the Empty

Primary sources

Sheng, Chapter 7, §3 Appearance Without Becoming · Where Becoming Lands

Conclusions that must not be drawn

It must not be presented as a scientifically proven "law that consciousness cannot be manufactured."

Related phrasings

Can consciousness be manufactured?Can humans create a conscious AI?Is consciousness a function that can be installed?

Natural phrasings of the same semantic domain, used for retrieval and understanding; the page does not pile up near-duplicate content.