July 15, 2026
THE DAILY McLUHAN DIALOGUES™ • McDialogues™
Understanding the Grammars of Electric Culture and Propaganda Science™
An Exploration of Technology Ecology as an Anchor in a Sea of Change™ and Tactical Training in Counter-Propaganda Science™
by Nelson S. Thall, McLuhan Media Scientist, Former President/Director/Chief Archivist, Marshall McLuhan Centre On Global Communications, Toronto, Canada
The Private Citadel of Consciousness
Can a Machine Ever Become Conscious?
A Student of Technology asks:
Mr. Thall, scientists continue debating whether Artificial Intelligence may one day become conscious. A leading neuroscientist argues that even the most advanced systems merely simulate consciousness, comparing them to a computer simulation of a hurricane that never produces real wind. Yet others insist that if machines continue becoming more intelligent, consciousness may eventually emerge. Are we getting closer to creating a conscious machine, or are we asking the wrong question?
Nelson S. Thall replies:
I believe we are asking the wrong question because we have begun with the machine instead of with man. Before asking whether a machine can become conscious, we ought first to understand what consciousness is. Consciousness is not merely intelligence, memory or language. It is the interior world from which thought, judgment, imagination and self-awareness arise. I have called it the Private Citadel of Consciousness, because it is the one kingdom into which no other human being has ever entered. The Scriptures add one dimension almost always absent from the modern discussion. They teach that what transforms the human brain into the human mind is something the Great Creator calls "the spirit in man." If that is so, then consciousness does not arise simply because matter becomes sufficiently complex. Its origin lies beyond the material world.
The hurricane analogy is therefore an excellent one. A computer may simulate every equation describing a hurricane, yet no wind blows. Likewise, a machine may imitate the outward grammar of consciousness without possessing the inward reality. Marshall McLuhan taught that every technology is an extension of man. The wheel extends the foot. The telescope extends the eye. The telephone extends the voice. Artificial Intelligence extends memory, language, imagination given material form, and calculation. But every extension begins with something that can be projected into the material world. Consciousness belongs to an entirely different order. It cannot be extended, amputated, detached or manufactured because it is not material. It is the essence of the spirit in man.
The danger, then, is not that machines become human. The greater danger is that human beings begin to define themselves as machines. Technology extends the powers of man. It does not extend the essence of man. If we mistake the performance of consciousness for consciousness itself, we shall eventually misunderstand ourselves. Guard well the Private Citadel of Consciousness, for it is there that the Great Creator placed the one thing no technology can manufacture. The Private Citadel of Consciousness remains the last frontier of human identity.
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News Source: The Guardian, July 15, 2026. Anil Seth, "Once again we are told AI may be conscious – I study consciousness, and I have my doubts."
All intellectual property contained herein was conceived, originated and authored exclusively by Nelson S. Thall. Artificial intelligence aka a pseudo-conscious machine (PCM) was not employed. We hired a stenographer. No intellectual contribution or creative authorship is attributed to the AI tool. All rights of authorship and ownership vest entirely and exclusively with Nelson S. Thall.
I can be reached at nelson@themediumisthemessage.com