Consciousness

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I had this chat with a person on the net.

Me:		By the scientific method (measuring, detecting, etc) it is not possible to determine if a "being" is experiencing or not. But still, experiencing means everything to us.
		So much for the "scientific method".
Him:		In your opinion, could an AI be conscious?
Me:		I will start to say that I can not prove my opinion by empiricism (as I just pointed out above), but my opinion (based on some axioms I have etc.) is that an AI can not produce consciousness. It could theorethically be possible though that a consciousness could be hosted by an AI.
		After all, my opinion is that this body (equipped with intelligence) hosts us.
Him:		Are we conscious only to the extent of our genetic program? Is consciousness a thing to be gained or is it that which underlies experience, as space underlies forms?
Me:		I think consciousness is not a product, but a thing in itself.
Him:		A thing that hosts itself in bodies?
Me:		I regard the body like a vehicle for the soul.
		When the vehicle breaks down, the driver leaves it, to get a new vehicle.
Him:		But what would be the difference between a body without consciousness and one with? Both may come up with the thinking "I experience consciousness".
Me:		Consciousness as such can not be an illusion, since an illusion requires a consciousness that can be deluded.
Him:		Yet if consciousness is the illusion, it is the notion that an illusion requires a witness that is at fault.
Me:		Illusion is a word that means misinterpreted experience, so there has to be experience for it to exist.
		That is why Descartes concluded that he exist.
Him:		Languages assumes the existence of a witness.
Me:		Illusion can not exist if there is no experiencing that can be misinterpreted.
		Therefore experiencing as such can not be an illusion
Him:		Experience yes, individual experience is another matter. If consciousness doesn't involve an object and a witness then it equates to pure existence which is indeed undeniable.
Me:		Consciousness is witness. Witness is related to the word veta in swedish or veda in sanskrit, which means to know, or to see, like in "i see" meaning "i understand" (i.e. not just limited to visual perception).