I - Object: Intimate Technologies as 'Reference Groups' in the Construction of Identities

Technè, Vol. 14, No. 3 (Fall 2010), pages 176-193.

18 Pages Posted: 18 Jul 2013

See all articles by B. van den Berg

B. van den Berg

eLaw@Leiden, Center for Law in the Information Society

Date Written: Fall 2010

Abstract

This article investigates the ways in which Ambient Intelligence, the technological paradigm of the near future proposed by the European Union and the electronics multinational Philips, will affect the ways in which individuals construct and express their identities. The Ambient Intelligence vision predicts a world in which technologies will deliver personalized services in a proactive (rather than a responsive or interactive) fashion. I argue that this brings about a change in the way we interact with these technologies, which in turn has an effect on the way we construct and express identities in relation to such technologies. In a world of Ambient Intelligence, I will argue in this article, technological artifacts may come to function as ‘reference collectivities’, comparable to human reference groups. Due to their proactivity, their level of autonomy and self-reliance and our personalized interactions with them, these technologies will come to function as ‘others’, rather than as ‘quasi-others’.

Keywords: identity, Ambient Intelligence, relationality, reference groups, (quasi-)otherness

Suggested Citation

van den Berg, B., I - Object: Intimate Technologies as 'Reference Groups' in the Construction of Identities (Fall 2010). Technè, Vol. 14, No. 3 (Fall 2010), pages 176-193., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2295308

B. Van den Berg (Contact Author)

eLaw@Leiden, Center for Law in the Information Society ( email )

P.O. Box 9520
2300 RA Leiden, NL-2300RA
Netherlands

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