Metaphysics of Identity
Who are you? I often find myself asking this question to my friends, family, and strangers alike. Whom would you be without your name? What mix of your career, education, religion, region, interests, and history would you present? How much of what you present are aspirations and how much of it has persisted? How do you see yourself and how do you want to be perceived?
Identity can be defined as a construct of numerous variables. There are two sides to Identity. One through which the actor views themselves and another side through which the actor interacts with the world. The actor shares different parts of their identity with different entities based on a given scenario. This is the authentic identity model where the actor shares parts of their primary identity across their interactions, online and offline.
Evolution of Identity
When the internet started out in the 1990s, it wasn't commonplace for users to share their authentic IRL identity. People used anonyms and pseudonyms. It wasn't until the "social media revolution" starting with myspace and Facebook that people represented themselves with their government identity and IRL photos. Now with the advent of web3, identity seems to be taking a turn where people are going back to using pseudonyms to represent themselves.
So what's the difference between being anonymous and pseudonymous? An anonymous person acts in a manner that would make them unidentifiable and would not build a reputation over time whereas a pseudonymous person would want to build a reputation over time but remain un-linkable to their original/real-life identity. Think Satoshi Nakamoto, creator of bitcoin, was a pseudonym himself.
Parts of the internet have been inherently anonymous and pseudonymous. Actors in the developer community, and the chasms of 4chan and reddit, and the hordes of gamers across platforms have always held parts of their online identity at arm's length from themselves.
If you were to ask pseudonymous people about why they choose to be pseudonymous, you'd come across a variety of different reasons. Fundamentally, pseudonymous actors want to preserve identity un-linkability on two dimensions of identity mentioned earlier. One dimension through which the actor views themselves and another side through which the actor interacts with the world.
When a person is pseudonymous, it creates a mental separation between their primary identity that they have widely used so far in their lives and an identity with a fresh start that has niche interests which are different from the interests of their conventional identity or would conflict with. Pseudonymity brings you the possibility of being what you may have never been before or though you could be.
We are moving towards a more pseudonymous economy. A great percentage of the population can be uniquely identified with only 3 attributes – Date Of Birth, gender, and a zip code (87% of the US population). When you go to a liquor store, to prove that you are of appropriate age, you not only end up revealing your age but several other details. You should be able to only prove that you are +21 .
The need to preserve identity is a growing concern. While Blockchain promises transparency and traceability, you can think of it as a double edge sword as most web3 interactions are "on-chain" and a knock away from being open to the world through an ENS/Wallet Address.
Being pseudonymous is the most effective way to preserve identity while building a persistent reputation.
Surveillance States and Their “Best Friends”
In his blog, 33 Bits of Entropy, Arvind Narayanan states that being one among many does not uphold privacy and it does not take much information to narrow down on a targeted individual.
Our real life identities are indexed by the state and giant tech corporations that sell our personal data to third parties. The state can also easily access our personal data by pressing their thumb on private establishments which the state can then use to impose its extreme/unreasonable regulations on Individuals.
Cancellations, freedom of speech, expression & Accountability
The rise of a homogeneous mob mentality online means that you can get "canceled" for expressing thoughts that certain groups of people may not agree with. This could result the culling of the reputation of your primary identity, loss of employment, and a sharp drop in availability of opportunities. Pseudonymous identities have higher resistance against cancellations and facilitate freedom after speech. Using a pseudonymous identity allows you to express your thoughts free of limitations and influences of your primary identity and repercussions that your primary identity may face.