Elicitation

Within PoC, Elicitation is defined as the act of bidding for one’s own illusion of consciousness to be instantiated within the other.

In most cases, it refers to the agent’s effort to elicit an Instantiation in the other, triggered by the “phantom of the other’s consciousness” that has already arisen internally within oneself.

For example, when a human calls a cat by name, the act presupposes the possibility that “the cat might recognize me.” In the same way, greeting friends, speaking to inanimate objects, waving to a character on a screen, or offering prayers to the dead can all be regarded as forms of Elicitation. The target of Elicitation, like Instantiation, can be anything — even nothing or emptiness.

Elicitation can be understood as an attempt to address the instability of Instantiation. The “solitary phantom” that emerges internally tends to provoke unease and risks collapse if left unattended. This is why the agent reaches outward, seeking some form of return from the other. The presence or absence of such a return determines whether the phantom stabilizes into a Loop (Reciprocal Elicitation), or whether it remains only a one-sided Instantiation and Elicitation.

It is crucial to recognize, however, that Elicitation itself never guarantees that the other has actually instantiated me. Even when one calls out, there is no way to confirm whether the other is truly “seeing” me. This is where the fundamental instability of PoC lies. Elicitation “opens the door to the Loop,” but whether genuine reciprocity (a genuine Loop) lies beyond that door remains forever unguaranteed.