Theme: Being Digital

Most of us are already more than human. We extend our identities into the digital realm, creating virtual counterparts of ourselves that exist apart from our physical selves. We increasingly interact with the world through artificial interfaces, and our physical experiences are enhanced or augmented, blurring the boundaries between real and virtual environments. Ray Kurzweil speculates that in the distant future, the human species might withdraw into an entirely virtual world, leaving robot avatars to safely interact with the physical world on our behalf.

The Being Digital theme considers what it means to exist in an increasingly digital world. It brings up questions such as: Where are the boundaries of self when we create digital identities? Does ‘being human’ matter? What is the nature of being without physical dimensions? How have relationships changed as a result of the internet? What are the potential consequences of AI?

Ideas about identity underpin this theme. They prompt us to consider how online identities can be plural or flexible, the relationship between physical and virtual identity, and the ways in which we define ourselves as human or other.