Conclusion: the identity of identity
What can be more identical than identity? ‘Identity’, the word, suggests
immutability, self-sameness, permanency; while in fact it does what other words
also do, it changes its meaning—in our day and age, so rapidly that it is hard to
keep track.
Seven-year-old Shibuya Mirai caused a stir when, in November 2017, he
received his official identity document, complete with photograph and date of
birth, sealed and signed by Mayor Ken Hasebe of Shibuya ward in Tokyo.
Shibuya Mirai is an artificial intelligence (AI) bot (his names means ‘Shibuya’s
future’). At around the same time and to the surprise of many, Sophia was
granted citizenship in Saudi Arabia. The disbelief was not because she is a non-
Muslim woman or a foreigner. Like little Mirai, Sophia is a machine and an AI
system. If another identical robot were created, it wouldn’t have a separate
identity, or would it?
Approaching the issue from another direction, Chinese scientists have cloned
two identical long-tailed macaques, the first genuine doppelgänger primates to
walk the planet. This is much closer to home than Frankenstein ever came. What
shall we make of their identity/identities?
The 20th century has seen constant endeavours to give clear classifications and
identities to people now tellingly referred to as ‘trans’. Yet, the lines separating
transvestites, transgenders, and others defying binary categories have become
increasingly blurred rather than more distinct.
The same can be said about dividing lines between racial, ethnic, and linguistic