Ah yes, the existential question: who am I? And its accompaniment: why am I here?
Resolving the second question will require a different essay and the finest effort of the newly formed
AI community. One can envision an ultra-fast search for answers that will take us factually back to our very origins and philosophically through a lengthy list of erudite theories, perhaps culminating in a futuristic world that includes multiple individual options ala “Dark Matter.”
Fortunately, TechnoWorld, bless their irreligious souls, has brought us an answer to “Who am I.”
We are the embodiment of a list of characteristics designed so that we may function, buy stuff, and interact according to the rules laid down by TechnoWorld.
We are:
Algorithms that tell us who we are … for transactional purposes
No-reply messages … for one-way agreements
Portals … to depersonalize relationships
Default decisions … the information is too complicated to separately analyze
Likes … of people, products, ideas we know nothing about except as per TechnoWorld
Data Points that represent the numbers by which we live … as per the algorithms thus created
Phone prompts designed to drive us back to the website … or insane
Clicks that make decisions really easy … and profitable to TechnoWorld
Log ins, Log outs … the rhythm of our daily routine
We are that which is displayed on a screen. We need not even react; the software of our I-devices knows us and takes our hand so that we may, after some twists and turns, deposit money in the bank account of TechnoWorld. There can be no substantive complaint if something goes awry; we accepted those multi-page agreements of legalese between us as individuals and trillion dollar corporations.
Human contact is minimized in the relationship with TechnoWorld.
There is no stress, as conventionally defined, in the process of an on-line life per se. However, it is becoming more widely recognized that acceptance of an on-line life as being normal produces stress that is being baked into the individual’s psyche. There is no longer the sense of real community, of the personal interaction which leads to growth and a life of true richness.
And there is nowhere to hide from TechnoWorld.