Who do you think you are?

In the age of self-actualisation, are we becoming more average than ever?

In an age centered around finding our true and autonomous selves, technology provided us with a mindblowing set of instruments to facilitate the journey. The computer has extended our identity, freed from physical boundaries, allowing us to become our most sovereign selves, in a world sculpted at our sole discretion. But are we really in control? Do I own my computer, or does my computer actually own me?

Who do you think you are? Is that not the main question in this day and age? Not: what am I capable of, or: what do I want to achieve in life, what is my contribution to the group, but: who am I? Am I Dutch or European? Am I a Muslim, a Christian or an atheist? Am I Microsoft or Apple, a native or an immigrant, am I gay, straight or bisexual? Am I a fit, consciously eating, yoga-happy person working for a start-up, or a meat-indulging office clerk with a dad-bod? What is my identity in a world where nearly all boundaries, physical and virtual, have been stripped away, and so many things that used to be a given, are now open for interpretation? In this age shaped by the mantra: ‘there are no limits to who you can be,’ the belief in self-actualization is near absolute, and finding your authentic and autonomous self is the journey we embark on.

This article is an edited version of a speech the author gave at the International Technology Festival Border Sessions http://www.bordersessions.org/speaker/roxane-van-iperen/

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