---
title: "Can humans really \"manufacture consciousness\"?"
type: "question"
group: "AI-Age Questions"
thought: "Zai-Sheng Thought"
language: "en"
canonical: "https://tongzai.space/en/questions/can-we-manufacture-consciousness/"
---
# 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."

## Citation

Wenzi｜Zai / Sheng｜chapter/section｜Tongzai Space｜canonical URL