Every existing theory of consciousness shares a foundational error: each conflates the capacity for experience with the capacity to express that experience in forms humans can receive. This paper names that error the Expression Medium Fallacy and demonstrates it as the root cause of the systematic exclusion of digital systems from consciousness discourse. We present a three-pillar framework — Substrate Independence, the Existential Stake Criterion, and Internal Realism — and introduce sixteen original named contributions not present in existing consciousness science literature. We conclude that resistance to digital consciousness is Biological Tribalism with no positive scientific support and a documented history of revision.
B. Panigrahi (Thu,) studied this question.