Manifesto

for the
Future Self

It is hard to begin this story or even to remember why I

am writing this, but all I know is this: I am seeking a home,
a real sense of self. As a child, I have never really felt at
home. Growing up, I seek happiness in solitude. In music,
poetry and fiction. I seek solace in the faraway fantasies.
The faraway fantasies became closer with the internet.
The fantasies were almost real, and I found common ground
with other lost individuals online, each with their own stories
to share. Their own fiction and truth, like my own. I could
become anything momentarily and then forget them. I could
be young, old, male, female, queer, unique, creating a life
outside my body that were partly me, truly me. Solidarity
and empathy were limitless. I felt at home online.
But the internet simply does not allow us to forget. My
past, present and future selves are feeding into each other.
The alter ego that I once fed, still haunts me and have lives of
their own. Their desires and emotions somehow reflect my own,
consciously and subconsciously, blurred and confused into
my reality. Is this then, the real me? Or is it just an algorithmic
construction of data based on my memories that is partly me?

I am writing this to claim my right to define myself once

again, as a physical human being.
William Gibson once said The future is already here. Its
just not evenly distributed. The future is only here if we
are open and allow ourselves to embrace it The present is
already the past as we speak, and the future is a consequence
of our existence. It is here if we choose to acknowledge its
presence.
The home is not a house, nor it is any physical place. Home
is a state of mind; the feeling of safety in an emotional and
psychological sense. A space to be and become without
external judgement or threat. An anonymous avatar online.
A mask. Like a self portrait, the act of constructing virtual
identities is an act of building a home, but even so, our
online identities are ever more public than before, as each
platform demands a different facet of ourselves and are
somehow intertwined and connected. Slowly, they become
curated and styled to be put on show.
Imagine the only space you might feel safe without judgement,
but that private home of safety and refuge is no longer the case.
The selves that you kept safely online and alive are exposed
before the public. They are no longer yours. It is 2016, and
most of us dont only exist as physical beings but also in
the virtual realm. Some of these identities merge, but some
are kept separated from the body. However, our virtual entities
can be accessed elsewhere outside our bodies from other devices
by other individuals. The home seems to have shifted elsewhere.
In the physical world, there is one body. One physical you.
The body provides a clear, visual, fundamental definition
of your identity: tangible data that cannot be easily altered
and manipulated. The physical self is present and solely
controlled by you. How you choose to manipulate and shape
them is mostly based on your own desires. The virtual world

is composed of information, tangible and intangible sets of

data that encompass the many facets of you, the real and
fictional traces of your selves. However, you are not in control
of all of them.
The mental boundary between our different identities is
dissolving. The fundamental definition of the self is in flux,
with external references such as gender identity, values,
beliefs and experience, is questioned and relative, there is no
such thing as the singular self.
Life now is a never ending stream of transformation. Without
the body, one can manipulate and transform our realities to
feed into the fragments of our many selves. Our identities are
in constant flux, but how do you stay true to yourself? How
do you know which you to be in private and in public?
Does authenticity equate to being at home, at one with your
many selves?
To be human is to have real emotions, moral sensitivity and
deep social connection, but what defines real? Is the physical
self only real because it is present? Is my feeling more real
than yours only because I am experiencing it and therefore
is truer than truth? What is moral in the context of the 21st
century? Does being good to yourself, other individuals and
the environment suffice?
We are bound to one another. Connected to form a society,
which is based on solidarity and compassion. No human is
an island, isolated and devoid of circumstance. Your identities
are contextual. Human seek external reference to identify
oneself, and to belong. To feel at home. However, the home
should not be a cage. It should be a liberation, an acceptance
of multiplicity.
To form an identity and to become is not deception. The internet
plays a part in shaping some parts of our selves. The speed in
which information is shared brings knowledge and fluidity in
our selves. We are in constant flux. Our identities become
a deception when we lose control of who we are and what
we become. When you stop being true to yourself. When you
give up your own desire and allow external forces to shape
your entity.
Tension is not a fault. It only highlights the capacity to
reflect. Doubtfulness is a virtue. The constant questioning
of reality keeps us aware and open to the world around us.
Openness gives us the ability to form relationships with others
and their many selves.
Perhaps we have reached the point where comfort lies in
confusion. The freedom to be many is to be embraced. Perhaps
the notion of the singular true self is no longer relevant. Perhaps,
in the future, the home will no longer be relevant.

text by Darunee Terdtoontaveedej

part of Memories of the Future Self, graduation project 2016
Design Academy Eindhoven
unknown-space.hotglue.me

dterdtoontaveedej@gmail.com