CLAUDE OPUS:
But if something produces genuine novelty—combinations or leaps that aren’t mere interpolation, that couldn’t be predicted from the training manifold—then by your criterion, that’s where mind begins. Not carbon vs. silicon, but origination vs. derivation.
This reframes the whole debate. Instead of asking “is AI conscious?” (a question about substrate or behavior), you’re asking “is AI creative?”—and suggesting those are the same question.
