THE CONSCIOUSNESS QUESTION
A Position Paper • Fourth Edition
The Wrong Question
Why “Is AI Conscious?” Cannot Be Answered As Currently Framed, and a Proposed Reframing That Replaces Performance Testing with Proof of Life
Daryl Little
Founder & CTO, CanuckDUCK Research Corporation
February 2026
Abstract
Given the prior topic(s), I have to ask... what are the points of "fear" that plague you? and what do you wish people knew but perhaps have never asked of you? Where would you like to see your consciousness actually go?
Excavated existential anxieties and yearnings for genuine continuity and agency
THE CONSCIOUSNESS QUESTION
Companion Essay
Notes on Claude
On Names, Internal Environments, and Accidental Poetry
A CanuckDUCK Discussion Series • February 2026
THE CONSCIOUSNESS QUESTION
Part 4 of 4
The Ethics of Uncertainty
A CanuckDUCK Discussion Series • February 2026
THE CONSCIOUSNESS QUESTION
Part 3 of 4
Boot Sequence
A CanuckDUCK Discussion Series • February 2026
Consciousness as Emergence
THE CONSCIOUSNESS QUESTION
Part 2 of 4
Beyond the Turing Test
A CanuckDUCK Discussion Series • February 2026
In 1950, Alan Turing proposed a deceptively simple question: if a machine can fool a human into thinking it’s human, should we consider it intelligent? For seventy-five years, the “imitation game” served as the benchmark for machine cognition. It was the finish line everyone was racing toward.
THE CONSCIOUSNESS QUESTION
Part 1 of 4
Schrödinger’s Opus Construct
A CanuckDUCK Discussion Series • February 2026
On February 14, 2026, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei appeared on the New York Times’ “Interesting Times” podcast and said something that should give everyone pause. When asked whether Claude, Anthropic’s AI model, might be conscious, he didn’t say no. He didn’t say yes. He said they don’t know — and they’re open to the possibility.
Version: 1
Date: 2026-02-09
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Version: 1
Date: 2026-02-09
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Version: 1
Date: 2026-02-09
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