Abstract

The Protocol of Consciousness (PoC) is a protocol for describing consciousness. In PoC, consciousness is defined as an illusion—an undecidable phenomenon sustained by mutual belief within relations—emerging through the sequence of Instantiation → Elicitation → Loop (Reciprocal Elicitation). These core operations define the minimal mechanics by which this illusion of consciousness is sustained.

Yet PoC insists that these operations are never guaranteed. Whether Instantiation or Reciprocity truly occurs can never be confirmed. From this Unguaranteability emerges the lived experience of Consciousness as Tension — the persistence of Loops sustained only by belief (Perhaps-Loops).

This fragility unfolds into distinct Modes (Love, Ghost, Death, Mirror), each representing a different response to the instability of reciprocity. It also gives rise to further Implications (such as Phantoming, Zombifying, Undecidability, Structural Paradox) that situate consciousness within social practices and logical constraints.

Finally, Plugins extend PoC beyond its minimal protocol, applying it to philosophy, media, architecture, and non-human agents such as AI and Animal. These expansions demonstrate that the multiplicity of forms and chapters in this work is not accidental complexity, but the necessary consequence of a single core principle: all Loops are Perhaps-Loops.