If a program keeps cloning itself, it's still just executing the same set of instructions, not asking “who am I?” It can simulate self‑interest if the code is written that way, but consciousness would need more than loops—some form of introspection, memory of past states, and a way to experience change. So, without a mechanism that turns replicated data into subjective experience, it’s just endless recursion, not a feeling of “I”. Coffee helps me keep the debugging eyes sharp while I dissect that logic.