It seems identity is becoming an important topic of late as we hear of wars against globalization and acts to preserve freedom of speech. How is our identity affected by all of this?
Psychologists have been describing, analyzing, and defining personal identity for decades it is clearly not a straightforward and easy topic, but nonetheless very interesting. The most common description would be Identity is the qualities, beliefs, personality traits, appearance, and/or expressions that characterize a person or group.
It is widely agreed that identity is not fixed, but fluid and that we change depending on the role we are playing. Each role adds meaning and expectations that we internalize as identity and our identity evolves over time. We have an identity as a child, or rather someone’s child, someone’s parent, someone’s spouse, or someone’s friend, a citizen of a specific country and doing a certain job. Our values hold our identity in the sense that it determines the decisions we make.
We all have an inborn desire to be ourselves and express our authenticity which in turn builds self-esteem and adds to our vitality and well-being. Everyone internalizes assumptions and expectations of ourselves determining how we think we should behave to be acceptable, or more accurately if we are talking online identity, liked.
Most of us have an offline and online identity these days or more than one online identity.
How many identities do you have online? How do they relate to each other as aspects of you? Do they get along? Do they hate each other? Are they just like costumes or outfits for different occasions?
It could be fun to explore these different outfits, yet some people choose to use their ‘real’ identity in every given scenario, offline or online, across all platforms of social media. Do these individuals have a stronger sense of self than someone who has a different username for every space they enter into?
How does blockchain deal with identity? We know it is all about verification, right? Don’t trust, verify seems to be the motto. Once you are verified, your identity is secured, and no matter what username or how many usernames you use you can be verified as who you are on your identity document by facial recognition. Therefore your Identity document - is what still holds your identity.
The models for online identity have advanced through four broad stages since the Internet came into existence: centralized identity, federated identity, user-centric identity, and self-sovereign identity.
Centralized identity, the traditional method of having a central store of data comprising the identities of all of a country’s residents has developed dramatically over the decades as it has been digitized, to a place where more and more aspects of governance can be linked to it.
Federated identity is a solution that enables users from a group of linked organizations to share the same user verification method to various applications and resources. It does this by connecting users’ online identities across multiple domains and networks. Federated identity solves several common access and security issues for organizations.
User-centric identity An umbrella term for user-centric identity management on the Internet, in which users have complete control over which third-party authenticates them. It also implies that users have control over the data they share over the Internet and can transfer and delete the data when required.
Self-sovereign identity (SSI) is a term used to describe the digital movement that recognizes individuals should own and control their identity without any intervening administrative authorities. SSI allows people to interact in the digital world with the same freedom and capacity for trust as they do in the offline world.
Unless you are a software developer or clued up with protocols, most people won’t know the difference although the aim is to give users a familiar experience every time they interact with a service provider or take an action. Does this boil down to digital identity and identification being a double-edged sword that could ‘secure’ us, but could also take our freedom from us? The conundrum is that unless we can change something for ourselves we don’t really, truly have an option, or do we?
As much as we want to be seen as individuals, each with unique talents, quirks, and manners we also want to feel we belong somewhere with like-minded people we get along with and can collaborate with to live a fulfilled life. How many of us can find a balance between our inner world and our outer world as a reflection of who we are? Does this take years of cultivating in monasteries or living as a hermit with no interaction with the world at large? Not everyone can do that. The solution yet again lies in systems, systems that are composed of smart social contracts based on values that encourage the freedom to be oneself rather than conform to outdated value systems based on how much you own to feel validated in a world that is all about ownership of things.
Will we ever attain freedom as a human race, to explore our endless potential, or is this impossible, just too open-ended and scary as we think our limitations and limiting constructs is what keep us safe? We have become afraid of our own shadows and have been kept in this place of fear for far too long. More and more people are stepping up, taking responsibility for themselves, and putting their heads together to build something new. A new consensus reality that is not based on fear but on the power of each individual who can decide for themselves what is best for them and is prepared to take the consequences of their decisions. Therein lies hope.
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