Authenticity in the age of the web - Society and Change
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Authenticity
Authenticity in
the age of the
in the age of
web
the web
The invention of the internet has restricted global society. Our culture
operates on a flat infinite surface where we are everywhere, anytime
and everyone at once. Our identities become voluntary, malleable and
illimitable. What does being authentic in the age of the web entail? Is
our authentic self really authentic? Or did authenticity changed itself?
Lena Sakshi Fynn Pierre
Trullier Jain Herlinghaus Salaün
Shakespeare said authenticity is “to thine own
Meltification
self be true” and also in the vernacular authenti-
city would be defined as something connected to
your true self. But in a world where it is getting
harder and harder to differentiate between true
and fake those past perceptions cannot be used
anymore.
E.E. Cummings (1894-1962) described authenti-
city with the words: “To be nobody-but-yourself
in a world which is doing its best, night and day,
to make you everybody else – means to fight
the hardest battle which any human being can
fight and never stop fighting.” Of course, we
should take care that we don’t lose ourselves in
the crowd and don’t forget to form our own va-
lues. But we definitely should be more than just
ourselves – more than ever before in the era of
human being. We should be aware that the pos-
sibility to have fluent and infinite identities can
create whole new opportunities to experience our
world. Be yourself - but at the same time try to
be everybody else!
1. WIDE-RANGING SUPERFICIALITY
We live through a process where amateurism has replaced
expertise. Investing too deeply in any niche has become a
risky proposition. The ability to paint, tune, code or sew
becomes less and less relevant. Instead selecting from an
enormous array of brands, images, filters and ready-mades
has become the base unit for making. In the age of the
web power comes from a broad surface, rather from digging
deep. Talent can flow more freely, and it is easier to discover
and enter new worlds.
2. LIQUIFYING PAST
There is no longer any meaningful separation between other
eras and our own. History, today is understood as a kind
of alternative present, still happening somewhere else. Hie-
rarchies are melting and traditions aren’t given as much im-
portance anymore. The languages of another time no longer
quite work today. Nowadays its more about gestures, moods
and ambiances. Practicing the art of shaping a language to
create undefined space, an effort to map unknown territory.
One of the many examples being the micro-genre mumble
rap where the artists chant inaudible hooks. All that opens
up voids that give users even more creative freedom.
3. THE INFINITE MATRYOSHKA
In a moment where the walls between genres and
time periods have collapsed due to infinite access of
information, so have the borders between ourselves
Everyone = everyone
and the people around us. Every reference we inhale
is a fragment of a new identity that sits inside us,
like a Russian nesting doll. Kanye West claimed in
different interviews that he has multiple personali-
ties trapped inside him like “Steve Jobs, Walt Dis-
ney, Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, Nicolas Ghesquiere,
Anna Wintour and David Stern”. He is known for
being multidisciplinary and for changing and inventing
new different personalities. He is never the same
again. A similar phenomenon can be seen with the
iPhone, it covers nearly every important thing under
its flat surface. It evolves constantly through new
updates and generations. Changing is a natural and
essential process, which had been choked by outmo-
ded concepts of authenticity. If conventional expres-
sion is about finding your authentic self, then the age
of the web is about multiplying it. We can develop
into anyone and everyone limitlessly. Be aware that
it has huge potential but also holds extreme risks;
your personality, and the personality of others, can
subtly warp into something your previous self would
loathe. It is unpredictable who we will be and where
society will drift.
4. FAKE BECOMES REAL BECOMES FAKE
Bolting kitten memes and avocado toast art are using the same instru-
ments as civil rights and social justice. We do not distinguish between
physical space and virtual time, blending abstract support with direct
participation and community. It is harder than ever before to differentiate
between reality and fake. Lil Miquela, a generated virtual person with
1.7 million Instagram followers, is making advertisement for Samsung
and Calvin Klein and spreading opinions around the world. She or rather
her founders have the ability to influence a huge amount of people and
to create real emotions and opinions through a fake personality. We are
exposed to a danger of manipulation. Whether something is real or fake
becomes less important than whether it is interesting or not.
Polypolarism
@lilmiquela
5. BIRTH OF POLYPOLARISM
Authenticity completely lost its significance. Forget the word authenti-
city and try to be as many personalities as you can. As a community
we should not strive for authenticity anymore. We are reaching the first
moment of human being where we really can explore ourselves through
exploring other identities within us. You are perpetually changing, even
as you read this.
You can also read
