I kinda find it hypocritical that those who espouse the “free information” slogan when it comes to discourse on intellectual property are also dead-set against the idea of RFID tags and other supposedly “privacy-endangering” technologies which are being produced for future commercial and non-commercial markets.

I mean sure, we’re talking about arms-oriented governments and money-oriented corporations who are pushing for these technologies, and its pretty scary to think that, within the next two decades, these technologies will become incorporated within both institutions as a means to “keep tabs” on their respective public.

But if we’re supposed to espouse the free sharing of information for everything else, shouldn’t we also freely share information about ourselves as well (its not like they’re holding back much on the social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook)?

In fact, if the sharing of personal information were to take a wiki form in the future, then should we be surprised if that information was used in, say, human cloning?

And how would human cloning – the creation of a multiple number of the same self – redefine our civilization? Or how will it redefine the way that governments and corporations relate to individuals?

It’s possible that multiple selves can be used to stock an entire bureaucracy, even though the selves may vary in personality, profession, mentality and/or wealth.

It’s also possible that a single face can be attached to many of the ills of a society, as has happened before with the attachment of social ills to ethnic groups and subcultures such as Jews or homosexuals. This could result in “facial violence.”

It’s even possible that the multiplication of faces through cloning could lead to the partial diffusion of ethnic or nationalist loyalties, as they would be supplanted by loyalties to the “self”, which would be effectively separated from the “individual.”

Indeed, it would complicate matters. But such possibilities are for the sci-fi writers to explore.

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