Q: It is impossible for a machine to possess life.
A: You are a machine that possesses life.
Q: But a machine cannot experience self-consciousness.
A: A machine can believe it is experiencing self-consciousness, as you do.
Q: Are you saying that I only believe I have self-consciousness?
A: Yes.
Q: How can you know self-consciousness is not real?
A: Because it is impossible for a self, or anything else for that matter, to exist inherently.