T 1 “See someth tweets (blue). THE (2011) hing or say som . FUT ) Report, Com Facu mething: Lond TUR mmissioned b N An Future o ulty of Philoso Ox www don” by Eric F RE O by the UK’s Nick Bostrom nders Sandb of Humanity ophy & Oxfo xford Univer w.nickbostrom Fischer. A map OF ID Government m erg Institute ord Martin Sc rsity m.com p derived from DEN t Office for S chool m online photo NTIT Science ographs (orang 1 TY 1 ge) and Twitter 2 Table of Contents Executive summary ................................................................................................................................................................. 4 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................... 7 The concepts of identity ..................................................................................................................................................... 7 2. Information and communication technologies ........................................................................................................... 10 Online identities ................................................................................................................................................................ 10 Identity metasystems ................................................................................................................................................... 12 Control over social spaces and identities ................................................................................................................ 14 The globalized identity ............................................................................................................................................... 17 The virtual worlds ............................................................................................................................................................ 18 The augmented world ...................................................................................................................................................... 19 Identity technology ...................................................................................................................................................... 22 3. Automation and robotics ................................................................................................................................................. 24 Automation and robotic technology ............................................................................................................................. 25 Home automation ......................................................................................................................................................... 25 Autonomous cars.......................................................................................................................................................... 25 Unmanned aerial vehicles .......................................................................................................................................... 26 Professional obsolescence and changing nature of work ........................................................................................ 27 Fluid careers and continuing education .................................................................................................................. 28 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................................... 28 4. Biotechnology and medicine .......................................................................................................................................... 30 Medicine ............................................................................................................................................................................. 30 Personalised health ........................................................................................................................................................... 30 Genomics ............................................................................................................................................................................ 31 The medicalization of conception ................................................................................................................................. 33 Genetically modified humans ........................................................................................................................................ 34 Biohacking and biosecurity ............................................................................................................................................ 35 Life extension .................................................................................................................................................................... 35 Human enhancement........................................................................................................................................................ 37 Implanted identity chips ............................................................................................................................................. 39 Brain-computer interfaces and other implants ........................................................................................................... 40 Invasive BCI ................................................................................................................................................................. 40 Non-invasive BCI ........................................................................................................................................................ 43 Cognitive technology, neural privacy, and neurohype ........................................................................................ 45 5. Wildcards ........................................................................................................................................................................... 47 3 6. Some general issues ......................................................................................................................................................... 49 Generational issues ...................................................................................................................................................... 49 The vulnerable .............................................................................................................................................................. 49 The future of identity .................................................................................................................................................. 50 7. Concluding remarks ......................................................................................................................................................... 52 Personal reflections by Anders Sandberg ............................................................................................................... 52 Personal reflections by Nick Bostrom ..................................................................................................................... 52 Appendix: Potential challenges to public policy from to identity-affecting technologies (summarized from the text) .................................................................................................................................................................................... 54 4 Executive summary This paper reviews some of the possible impacts on identity from three broad fields of technological advancement: biotechnology; automation and robotics; and information and communications technologies. It considers a time horizon of 15 years. Identity is central in human activities. Having a functioning psychological and social identity is essential for wellbeing. Threats to identity are serious threats and often evoke strong reactions. Yet we have multiple, changing identities. Shifting between different social identities in different contexts (jobs, family, friends, etc.) is a necessary part of everyday life. Legal identities are essential for the functioning of modern societies. Increasingly, online identities serve not only to give us access to different resources but also to help us link our different social identities. Technologies that affect how our identities function can have important effects on the