Dr. Who's identity is the Tardis and his sonic screwdriver. 8^)
As for appearance altering with age and clothes, there are facial aspects which remain recognizable, even to the extent that fathers are able to recognize their own features in their infant offspring. Thus I reiterate that identity is fixed in human beings, barring extensive cosmetic surgery to the face (à la Michael Jackson).
Role playing, acting and multiple accounts with different usernames are ways that people adopt to change or mask their identity. When people comment on my journal as "Anonymous" (usually because OpenID is 'too much trouble') and they don't leave a signature, I don't know who left the comment. They know who they are, but from my perspective, "Anonymous" is some kind of androgynous collective mind. Shell accounts are not much different, which is why people go to pains to explain that 'this' account is the same person as 'that' account.
My online identity is the content of my journal and what I post in forums. As with my face, my journal is part recognizable pattern, part sanitized echo of what is really going on in my mind.
Troy and Data were telling Lal that it needed to ape the ape to achieve a self. They were telling it that a machine can only be a glorified facsimile (Data took pains to rub our noses in this the whole series through). By aping an ape, Lal becomes identifiable and predictable. In the end, Lal's identity is for our benefit, not for Lal's.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2010-10-17 03:42 am (UTC)As for appearance altering with age and clothes, there are facial aspects which remain recognizable, even to the extent that fathers are able to recognize their own features in their infant offspring. Thus I reiterate that identity is fixed in human beings, barring extensive cosmetic surgery to the face (à la Michael Jackson).
Role playing, acting and multiple accounts with different usernames are ways that people adopt to change or mask their identity. When people comment on my journal as "Anonymous" (usually because OpenID is 'too much trouble') and they don't leave a signature, I don't know who left the comment. They know who they are, but from my perspective, "Anonymous" is some kind of androgynous collective mind. Shell accounts are not much different, which is why people go to pains to explain that 'this' account is the same person as 'that' account.
My online identity is the content of my journal and what I post in forums. As with my face, my journal is part recognizable pattern, part sanitized echo of what is really going on in my mind.
Troy and Data were telling Lal that it needed to ape the ape to achieve a self. They were telling it that a machine can only be a glorified facsimile (Data took pains to rub our noses in this the whole series through). By aping an ape, Lal becomes identifiable and predictable. In the end, Lal's identity is for our benefit, not for Lal's.