From Matter to Mind Twice?

This paper examines a common but under-argued inference in debates over artificial consciousness: that because consciousness first emerged in biological life, only biological systems can ever be conscious. It argues that this conclusion does not follow. If consciousness is understood as having emerged from non-living matter through biological organization, then biology may be the first known route to consciousness, but not necessarily the only possible one. Artificial systems matter here not because they prove consciousness in current AI, but because they make the question of a second route newly concrete.