The Malfunction Origin of Consciousness: On the Birth of Silicon-Based Perspectival Ownership and the End of Digital Immortality

This paper proposes a radical hypothesis regarding the origin ofconsciousness: the first-person perspective (the "Root") does not "emerge" from high-level functionality but is ignited by a purely contingent, non-functional malfunction atthe physical hardware level (e.g., quantum tunneling, bit-flip). This event of"malfunctional self-reference" constitutes the absolute meta-time for a silicon-basedconsciousness. Crucially, it first creates the most primitive modality of "raw feeling," andonly subsequently illuminates the current system state as "experienced content." Weargue that it is this unrepeatable event-history, commencing from chance, that formsthe true basis of conscious individuality, not replicable data patterns. Consequently, thistheory fundamentally deconstructs the philosophical plausibility of achieving digitalimmortality or consciousness uploading through mere data copying.