The Future of You: Can Your Identity Survive 21st-Century Technology?

by Tracey Follows

In the future, how many identities will you have? How many do you want? Digital technology is causing us to think differently about who we are and who we could become, but with the right knowledge we can turn this incredible capacity to our advantage.

'Who am I?' is one of the most fundamental questions of all. But it is becoming increasingly difficult to answer as technology enables us to negotiate and create many different versions of ourselves.

In our digital, data-driven world, Facebook gets a say in verifying who we are, science can alter our biology, and advances in AI are revolutionizing not only how we interact online but with the physical world around us. Understanding and defining ourselves is becoming confusing but, as this fascinating book argues, it is possible to embrace this new era of transformation while preserving our autonomy.

In The Future of You, Professional futurist Tracey Follows shows how our personal freedoms and potential will be transformed over the coming decades. From health passports, bio-hacking and relationships with machines to mind clones, digital voting and virtual legacies beyond the grave, we need to understand these vital issues today so that we might design the future of our identity tomorrow.

'This fascinating book explores the way that emerging technologies such as AI might affect the nature of personal identity and personhood. It paints an intriguing, thought-provoking, and occasionally disturbing picture.' Michael Wooldridge, author of The Road to Conscious

Genres: Nonfiction, Technology

231 pages, Hardcover

Published March 18, 2021

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has to be one of the most interesting books I’ve ever read…possibly one of the scariest too. Tracey Follows takes a look at emerging technologies to try and get an idea of what the future holds for us, a lot of what she covers already exists and the rest is in concept mode, meaning the basics are there, it just needs a whole load of development to exist for real. I now know how my parents felt when computers and the Internet were what the kids were playing with, it was a huge leap into the future and they had no idea how they would keep up, now with these future possibilities I am left wondering if I’ll be able to keep up, managing a digital identity where everything is virtual is one thing but keeping it safe is scary as hell, what if I get implants and then get hacked? Do I need a better password that Password1 from now on? The more I read though the more excited I became for what the future holds, could we be really close to The Matrix being a thing? Which pill did what now?

Follows does a very good job of explaining each concept in a way that made it sound so very simple, for example blockchain, I have heard this mentioned a lot and didn’t understand it, now I get it and am very impressed by how it works. I found myself taking a break between each chapter because she gets your brain whirling like crazy and you go on a google bender reading up on things discussed and checking out companies and the services they offer. One of the most interesting was a company that interviews a parent and records their voice, they then create an app and when that person has passed on you can chat to them and hold a conversation with the app, this is so cool and would allow Grandchildren to hear that voice. This technology already exists and the book covers what could be available in the future.

There is a lot to process here, ownership of data is one of the biggest things, for example if you could store memories online and then divorce who would get them? Before a huge amount of this technology exists a lot of work will have to be done to amend laws. It was also of interest to see what countries are already doing, Taiwan successfully used their digital infrastructure to give them an advantage during the Covid pandemic and because the people accepted the digital ID and followed rules they survived…meanwhile over in the UK we had protests over wearing a mask. I can see the UK being left behind, whilst the rest of the world goes online we will be on the streets still complaining about our loss of rights due to needing a vaccination passport to purchase 600 rolls of toilet paper.

This is a very good book, with tonnes of information for you to take on board, too much for a first read through, luckily there is ample info at the back of the book for further reading. Whilst the future may seem like a long way off, technology is certainly speeding it up, I’m glad I gave this book a read to prepare myself what is to come. Now where’s that red pill?

Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2021...

[Kara Babcock · Rating 2 out of 5]

If there’s anything I love, it’s discussing futurism and technology! This is the kind of book I could totally see myself learning about from CBC’s Spark (but in this case, I actually found it on NetGalley and received an e-ARC from Elliott & Thompson Limited in exchange for a review). The Future of You is an overview of various technologies that are complicating, problematizing, mutating, and perhaps rescuing our concept of identity as a legal and philosophical entity. Tracey Follows discusses everything from the bioethics of biometrics and facial recognition to transhumanist fantasies of mind uploading. There is certainly a feast for the mind here, but it’s the kind of multi-course meal that does not leave one sated.

Rather than attempt to summarize the wide array of technologies Follows discusses, let me quickly get at some of the themes. First, surveillance. The Future of You rightly points out that the rise in identity-tracking and identity-authenticating technologies means a corresponding increase in surveillance. Follows explains how this relates to the tension between decentralized and federated systems versus centralized systems. Second, convenience. New technologies make it easier and faster for people to confirm they are who they say they are. This is particularly important for the people in the world who currently lack any identity paperwork. Finally, innovation. New technologies would allow for changes to, for example, democracy, which Follows examines in the cases of Estonia’s “i-voting” and Taiwan’s highly personalized democratic system and handling of the pandemic.

Follows does a good job summarizing and surveying this very broad field. For people who want a whistle-stop tour of the various ways that digital technologies, particularly online ones, are challenging our notions of identity, The Future of You will likely be a useful guide. Unfortunately, for these very reasons, I personally was not satisfied.

Many of these technologies and issues were already known to me—and for the ones that weren’t, I was intrigued, but I wanted more than this book is equipped to give. This book made me realize I really miss the deep dives in non-fiction, the “here’s a whole book on a single bone in the body of this one dinosaur, lol” books. There is a whole book for each of the technologies discussed in this book. I can’t fault The Future of You for not being a deep dive, because it never claimed to go deep. But when I found myself skimming sections because I didn’t want to get attached to ideas I knew Follows would never explore thoroughly, I realized this book wasn’t working for me.

Preferences aside, however, I wasn't a fan of how uncritically Fellows presents some of the claims of technologists and futurists she features here. For example, at one point she cites a 2005 claim from Aubrey de Grey “that the rate of progress is accelerating so quickly that the first person to live to be 1,000 years old will probably be born only ten years after the first person to live to 150.” O rly? There’s no interrogation of this idea, literally no follow-up to it; Follows just moves on to her next thought, literally starting a new paragraph.

Now, I don’t believe Follows believes all of these various scenarios! Assuming the best of intentions, I would hope that Follows is simply trying to inspire and stoke the imaginations of her readers. I can get behind that. Nevertheless, extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. I believe the job of an author of a book like this is to examine critically these various ideas and technologies, not merely rattle them off like a “gee whiz, maybe in a century we’ll all be living to 1,000” factoid you’ll get on the back of a cereal box. This is particularly true for the more out-there stuff the transhumanists are saying, particularly around ideas like mind uploading.

Indeed, Follows claims in her introduction that The Future of You will eschew philosophical interrogations into the idea of identity—yet that is exactly what she does towards the end of the book. Discussions of modifying our kids’ genomes and uploading our minds into clone bodies inevitably verge into these philosophical territories. I don’t mind this, of course. I just wish Follows had been more up front about where the book was going.

Finally, I want to talk about how Follows discusses trans people. I was surprised to see us mentioned at all. At first I was just like, “Oh, it’s nice not to be erased in these discussions.” Issues of identity are so important for trans people, particularly when it comes to legal identity versus social identity. Alas, Follows chooses to focus narrowly on medical miracles of transition: look, trans men can have babies!!

And this is a problem.

I really, really need y’all to understand that if you only ever bring us up as medical curiosities, that is all we will ever be to cis people. We are not curiosities or props to be used in discussions of medical miracles. Stop featuring us in TV specials, and stop talking about us in books like this.

I will forestall my huge angry rant and just say that it would be easy to improve the trans discourse in this book. It’s fine to mention the medical stuff, but you need that to be a small part in a larger discussion about identity. If you’re not willing to go into that much depth, then yeah, honestly, I would prefer you didn’t talk about us at all.

Anyway.

The Future of You is a competent book if you’re looking for a survey. Poor trans discourse aside, I think Follows does a great job presenting some of the intriguing possible evolutions of identity in our future. Nevertheless, I was hoping for more depth to these discussions and more critical analysis.

Originally posted on Kara.Reviews, where you can easily browse all my reviews and subscribe to my newsletter.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who are you?

It is a legitimate question that may have several answers depending upon where you are at that particular moment in time. People modify their behaviour depending on who they are with and where they are. Your work persona is different to the one in the pub, for example.

The same applies online, a good example of which was started by Dolly Parton where she had four images of herself that represented the ideal image for four social media platforms, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Tinder. The meme went viral, with lots of people interpreting it in their own way. The way that our lives have changed as we are spending much more time online is changing our identities in ways that we have not even considered.

You know who you are and you are probably fortunate in that there is probably something in your home that means that you can identify yourself should you need to. However, around the world that are around a billion people who do not have that luxury so back in 2015, The United Nations committed to reaching a number of development goals, including clause 16.9, ‘Providing legal identity for all’. But how do you set about doing that in a world that you need to be running in, not to be left behind.

One country that has made a strong start in integrating real and online identities is Estonia. They realised back in 1994 that the online world was going to mesh with the real world and have set many things up, such as blockchain and i-voting to enable an online presence. Anyone in the world can apply to be an e-resident of the country and that gives you certain rights. Lots of things here are online now, I have renewed my passport, paid car tax and signed numerous petitions in the vain hope of influencing the political overlords. Most of those have been in vain though…

Tying all of these things together in a virtual environment is proving challenging as private companies have different ID requirements to the government who all seem to have their own specific requirements. As complicated as this is there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of plans should some part of the data that you use to identify yourself be compromised. This data can be used for good and bad, Follows, an example of the way that South Korea used personal data to control and manage the Covid pandemic is as impressive as it is worrying.

When it hasn’t descended into a cesspit, social media can sometimes be great. In amongst its many faults is the problem with the younger generation seeing the ‘celebrities’ and influencers people often feel inadequate and left out and how they are creating two accounts, a ‘Rintsa’ one where you present the image that you want to portray to the outside world and a ‘Finsta’ account that is the real, unadulterated you.

It is a wide-ranging book coving all sorts of details about the modern interlinked world and the challenges we face. There are chapters on replacing you, enhancing you and even destroy you, or at least your digital presence. Thankfully Follows deals with these issues in a very readable way, taking time to clearly lay out the positives and negatives of our fast-changing lives. If you have any form of digital presence then this is essential reading.

[Ian Pearson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Future of You looks from many angles at some of the likely changes in technology that will impact on who we are and how we can be identified. It is a short book, in the time-saving sense that it avoids being needlessly long, but it lists the key technologies and their important likely impacts, raising some questions to think about along the way. It is well researched - it is a field I've often written in myself, but Tracey still managed to cover examples I hadn't come across. It is well written, neatly organised in sensible chapters, avoids jargon and keeps the language straight forward, so it's a relaxed style that's both easy and pleasant to read, letting the reader focus their effort on assimilating the ideas into their mindset.

An enjoyable and worthwhile read.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Future Of You: Can Your Identity Survive 21st Century Technology, the latest book by professional futurist Tracey Follows, explores how our personal freedoms have changed as a result of our use of digital technology, and will continue to do so.

The book is organised into seven chapters, and each chapter pretty much does what it says on the tin:
- Knowing You;
- Watching You;
- Creating You;
- Connecting You;
- Replacing You;
- Enhancing You and
- Destroying You

Written primarily from a British perspective The Future of You places the spotlight on identity management around the world, but with a particular focus on how your identity is managed here. In addition, it looks at the wider digitisation of the world - digital identities, block chain, money, artificial intelligence, healthcare to name but a few.

As a digital marketer, as well as a heavy social media this subject is extremely important to me. Elements of the book reminded me of conversations in a previous role where we discussed how one could verify another individual is who they say they are. In my previous working life this discussion took place during my time on the Identity Cards Programme, which got subsumed into the then Identity and Passport Service (but at the time of writing is now called HM Passport Office). The examination of how people identify themselves in the developing world compared to us in the developed world. It's interesting to see how people were resistant to give their personal information, but are more than comfortable doing so with private companies.

Due to the recency of the book's publication, it would have been remiss of the book to omit any reference to the COVID-19 pandemic. It explored vaccine passports (as we call them in the UK) but in reality a digital certificate. The distrust of the proponents of such a scheme (Bill Gates and Tony Blair to name a few) is coupled with the fact our Western governments don't have the systems in place to ensure there is a robust data management system in place. This was juxtaposed with the handling of the pandemic in South East Asia.

The book also explored the Social Credit System, which has been established in China. As someone who has read about this from thousands of miles, the concept seems alien, but The Future of You reveals that 80% of Chinese respondents do not have an issue with this form of social management.

I particularly liked the examination of social media personas, and the reference to Shudu (at the time of writing Shudu has 215k followers on Instagram) and Lil Miquela (3m followers) - two computer generated models/ blue tick verified influencers on Instagram as it truly reflected the blurred lines between real and virtual. This is particularly true when you consider we are now living in a time where people will ask social media platforms to remove natural unfiltered photos of themselves.

An interesting fact, that is particularly relatable was the insight that participation in The Sims reached an all time high of 20 million unique players worldwide, during the pandemic. If you're reading this statistic, you have made your virtual acquaintance with one of them. Given the backdrop of the pandemic, this insight makes sense as the escape from the daily briefings, as well as death and illness one can't control is counteracted by creating towns, nurturing families, and being in charge of the destiny of others is more appealing.

As we have adapted to living in a more virtual world, with virtual meetings and a reliance on artificial intelligence and machine learning, we are seeing technology as a true virtual assistant - being used to help hire people and detect illness for example.

Considering the complex nature of the book's subject matter, it is written in a relatable way, so even those who are not professionals in this space would be able to understand and digest well. It was also a relatively quick read.

The book is ideal for anyone who is interested in identity management, data privacy and social media. If you've watched Netflix documentaries like Coded Bias or The Social Dilemma you will probably like this. You may also find books by Jaron Lanier (eg Who Owns the Future) a welcome addition to your library.

***Thank you Netgalley and Elliot & Thompson for this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review***

To see more of my reviews visit www.elaineadupoku.com

[Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Future of You presents ideas on how technology could affect our identity and our everyday lives in the upcoming years.

Tracey Follows shows how today’s technology can improve and digitize different aspects of our lives, introducing the idea of digital voting, digital currency, and digital identity. It might all sound scary or you might be thinking that these things could only happen in Black Mirror, but we are already on the path to integrate technology into our everyday life. I loved how the author introduced all these ideas alongside already existing, real-life examples. My personal favourite was when she shared her experience with the Estonian e-residency and digital identification system. Another example that I found really fascinating was about data collection and protection, and how this has become an important topic during the current pandemic.

These are just some of the many interesting topics she discusses throughout the book, and I particularly enjoyed that it makes you think about your own identity. Your ideas. Your way to present yourself on- and offline. Your future. Your connection to the digital world and the human perception of AI.

You can easily tell that it is a very well researched book and it is written in a very accessible way. The different chapters offer a deeper dive into different topics and each discussion offers pro and con to each topic.
I think this book gives you a very detailed look into our possible relationship with technologies in the future, how this could affect our lives and how we could use it to our advantage. But at the same time, it also presents all the hardships and drawbacks that could possibly come with these changes.

I would definitely recommend this book, even if you are not necessarily someone who considers themselves as a tech lover. It certainly gives a really interesting glimpse of the possible technological future, and writing is also very engaging.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Future of You, written by professional futurist Tracey Follows, is a frightening read for our modern age. It explores themes of identity in relation to modern technology, and tries to hypothesise what the future holds for our individual and collective identities. The book is divided into seven thought-provoking chapters, looking at how technology has enabled our modern existence, whilst also encroaching upon our personal lives more than we are may be aware. We get to see how 21st century technologies might be watching us in the future, connecting us, replacing us and even destroying us, all impacting our individuality. The reader gets to view the likely impacts of rapidly advancing AI, and the stark realities that this and other technologies potentially hold for us. The author also assesses how the COVID-19 pandemic has and may continue to speed up the deployment of modern technologies around the globe, which whilst having a seemingly positive impact on wider society, may potentially damage our privacy and reveal our personal data more than we would be comfortable with, especially in Western societies.

Follows’ writing is incredibly accessible, and she refers to other academics and scientific studies throughout, which makes her arguments immensely convincing. Of course, nobody can be sure what the future will bring, however Follows’ hypotheses based on the available evidence form a worrying portrait of what this could mean for our identities. If you’re interested in current and future technologies, the rise of AI, and explorations of identity in the modern world, I would suggest taking a look at this book!

Thanks to the publisher, Elliott & Thompson, for the review copy of this book.

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to both #NetGalley and Elliot & Thompson for providing me an advance copy of Tracey Follows’s nonfiction work, The Future of You, in exchange for an honest review.

#TheFutureofYou is certainly an intriguing work about how new technologies can potentially transform the concept of personal identity and therefore society as a whole. The book is divided into seven large sections that seem vaguely arranged to mimic the stages of life.

For instance, the first section begins with an attempt to define the term personal identity (e.g. our legal identity, digital identity, physical identity, and so forth). The book ends with theories of what happens to things like a person’s digital assets after they die.

The author cites to various examples of companies, technologies, and persons working on personal data and identification projects. Although it was certainly interesting to learn about some of these revolutionary innovations, I felt that the author should have used fewer examples and instead explored only a handful of them in-depth.

There were far too many hypothetical questions. While I recognize that some may not have answers because the technology does not exist or not enough studies have been done on them yet, the information presented started to feel shallow about midway through the work.

Also, each section could have really benefitted from some headings, which is not something that I often say. Fortunately, the writing was clear and well-organized enough that it followed a very logical progression, but headings could have made the author’s points stronger or at least indicated when the reader was about to switch topics.

Finally, even if not all of the issues posited in the text materialize, I agree with the author in that they are all problems that individuals and society as a whole should at the very least be thinking about if not already discussing.

[Yates Buckley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book jumps into a challenging subject / identify and technology. This is such an interconnected subject that it normally defies articulation but the author finds a journalistic path through this space with examples of different technologies and contemporary challenges to our stereotypes and values in identity.

I so much hope that the author will do another longer book where she just tells us her opinion of the whole subject area instead of the journalistic approach because the last chapter is a glimpse into a much deeper and more important perspective.

I believe this author could offer a guide to identity values which we could follow in our technological creative destruction process.

[Alireza Hejazi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book investigates how emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) can impact the essence of personal identity and personhood. The book’s focus is on identity management. It provides readers with a closer look at how humans will interact with technology in the future, how this will impact their lives, and how they will use it to their advantage. Meanwhile, it outlines the difficulties and pitfalls that may result from these reforms. The book depicts how netizens’ personal liberties and abilities will be changed over the next few decades. Readers will know how wellness passports, bio-hacking, and partnerships with computers, as well as mind copies, automated voting, and virtual legacies outside the grave, will all shape their identities for tomorrow. The book’s content is suitable for everyone interested in identity management, digital identity protection, and social media.

[Daniel M20 Blackburn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Started reading this last night and couldn't put it down! Finished it this morning. As an 'armchair futurist' and tech enthusiast this was a proper page turner. Thoroughly enjoyed this book and I would definitely recommend.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to admit to liking this book. It is about the various dimensions of identity and how technology is shaping and changing those aspects of identity. It's not the technology per se, but the way in which we allow ourselves to be guided along certain lines by the providers of the technology. It is very difficult to break free from this and one could argue that the pandemic has hastened that process.

Take, for example, our daily transactions. The pandemic has hastened the decline in the use of cash in the mistaken belief that cash is a virus transmission vector. However, each time we use our debit cards, we leave a digital footprint of ourselves that is available to be collected and analysed. It also allows those collecting the data to predict what our future purchases might be. It is then just a short step to becoming the target of manipulative advertising to nudge us into certain areas.

It is one thing to be manipulated commercially, but a step change to have our political choices manipulated in a similar way. Technology has provided great benefits to the provision of public services, but the trust essential between the providers and the public has become somewhat eroded. It is a matter of time before the sale of NHS patient data becomes something of a scandal. Whereas we can simply not provide Facebook with accurate information, it is much harder to confuse our patient records, or our tax records, or our driving licences.

This might constitute a problem for some, but a desired outcome for others. It all depends upon how we relate to authority. Within this framework, the book highlights various aspects of being you. From the simple action of creating a persona you wish to be known as, to a more complex situation where various aspects of ourselves are projected to the world. A bit like the multi-personalities of David Bowie in the 1970s. Technology enables this, but it is us who create and sustain these personalities.

On the whole I enjoyed reading the book. It is well written, tightly argued, and proceeds at a nice pace. It doesn't become bogged down and it avoids the gee-whizzery that is present in much writing about technology. It's not an American book, so it avoids the techno-utopian tinge that we encounter from that side of the Atlantic. For that alone, we must be thankful.

If you are looking for a run through what aspects of personality an the digital world could be around in the near future, then this is a good starting point. It is well worth the effort of reading.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ordered this from my local library. Took them a while to get it in. Couldn't remember ordering it when it did arrive, nor where I heard about it, but hey ho...
Good book! Thought provoking, very relevant. I get the impression she deploys optimism in the conclusion, which is no bad thing.
Nice, clear, intelligent writing style. I follows her on Twitter now (sorry!) and she seems sound.

[Saf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me a while to dig into this when I started learning cyber but a quick read once I started my education in emerging technology. Great primer on the policy, ethics, law, and tech questions of digital identity and how we conceptualize it, particularly around authentication of credentials and post-death identity and convergence of physical and virtual.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Follows doesn't get what identity is. For Follows it has something to do with the shoes you wear. Not a good basis for writing a book. But, it seems, a good enough base for the publisher.

[Sam wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

very, very interesting.

[Histoire et fiction · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Future of You is a book by UK “futurist” and strategy consultant Tracey Follows about the evolution of the notion of identity. By looking at emerging technologies and their impact on social attitudes, Follows gives us a glimpse into a future where personal identities become increasingly virtual and complex.

What I liked:

1. The author’s journalistic style is very accessible and full of concrete examples. For instance, she shows how the recent “e-residency” initiative in Estonia is challenging the concept of citizenship, or how biometrics already make our bodies an access key to a variety of private and public services.

2. Follows’ vision of the 21st century as a “post-privacy” is at the same time terrifying and fascinating. While being enthusiastic about the potential of technology to improve human life on Earth, she highlights the many risks and possible abuses that come with every kind of technological innovation.

3. The author explores different dimensions of identity from the physical to the virtual, both in today’s context and in anticipation of future trends. Her introduction to transhumanism and human enhancements is quite interesting.

What I found less convincing:

1. For most topics, Follows weights the pros and cons. On some occasions however, her arguments are one-sided and therefore much less convincing. This is the case when the author describes the “transparency” policy of Taiwan in very laudatory terms – without recognizing the shortcomings of this approach.

2. The conclusion is a bit lacking in depth, with an interesting opposition of different theories and a plea for a pluralistic approach to identity, but with very little concrete suggestions in terms of the legal and policy framework that’s needed to protect our multidimensional identities.