Artificial Identity
Artificial Identity, sometimes called Robotic Identity or Machine Identity, is an umbrella term that encompasses many other identities in which people identify with robots and machines. Such people typically feel a disconnection between humanity and themselves, feeling much more relation to robots and identifying as such.
History
While the exact origin in which artificial identity started appearing is unclear, it can be assumed that it started to take a foothold within the 20th century. While the idea of a self-operating machines goes back centuries and is covered by many ancient mythologies, it wouldn't be until the 20th century that robots would become a feasible reality. One of the first attempts at a proper robot happened in 1928, where a robot named Eric would be exhibited at a annual exhibition of the Model Engineers Society in London. Eric was able to move its hands and its head, which was controlled via remote and voice control.[1] While Eric was quite an early attempt, it would certainly pave the way for the future of autonomous machines.
Robots and machines would start to take a foothold in various media during the late 20th century. Notable examples include the movie franchise Terminator, the science fiction novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, the science fiction novel I, Robot and many, many more. Many depictions of robots in media is often negative, portraying robots in a negative light, with an especial bloodthirst for exterminating humanity. Humans are often viewed as the heroes of the story, which could be further from the truth considering many of the reasons robots defy humanity is because of the mistreatment of them, leading to an eventual retaliation.
Despite these negative depictions, robots have continued to increase in relevancy towards to start of the 21st century. With the advent of transhumanism and mind uploading becoming a real possibility, the idea of identifying as a robot has seemingly begun to increase, with many rejecting the label of humanity that has been given to them.
Types of Identities
There are many types of identities within the artificial identity umbrella. Such labels include, but is not limited to:
- Machinekin
- Robotkin
- Fictionkin
- Androidkin
- AIkin
- Robotgender
- Nonhuman
Some may opt to not use a label at all, simply identifying as a robot or a machine.