Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

The Future Of You: Can Your Identity Survive 21st Century Technology, the latest book by professional futurist Tracey Follows, explores how our personal freedoms have changed as a result of our use of digital technology, and will continue to do so.

The book is organised into seven chapters, and each chapter pretty much does what it says on the tin:
- Knowing You;
- Watching You;
- Creating You;
- Connecting You;
- Replacing You;
- Enhancing You and
- Destroying You

Written primarily from a British perspective The Future of You places the spotlight on identity management around the world, but with a particular focus on how your identity is managed here. In addition, it looks at the wider digitisation of the world - digital identities, block chain, money, artificial intelligence, healthcare to name but a few.

As a digital marketer, as well as a heavy social media this subject is extremely important to me. Elements of the book reminded me of conversations in a previous role where we discussed how one could verify another individual is who they say they are. In my previous working life this discussion took place during my time on the Identity Cards Programme, which got subsumed into the then Identity and Passport Service (but at the time of writing is now called HM Passport Office). The examination of how people identify themselves in the developing world compared to us in the developed world. It's interesting to see how people were resistant to give their personal information, but are more than comfortable doing so with private companies.

Due to the recency of the book's publication, it would have been remiss of the book to omit any reference to the COVID-19 pandemic. It explored vaccine passports (as we call them in the UK) but in reality a digital certificate. The distrust of the proponents of such a scheme (Bill Gates and Tony Blair to name a few) is coupled with the fact our Western governments don't have the systems in place to ensure there is a robust data management system in place. This was juxtaposed with the handling of the pandemic in South East Asia.

The book also explored the Social Credit System, which has been established in China. As someone who has read about this from thousands of miles, the concept seems alien, but The Future of You reveals that 80% of Chinese respondents do not have an issue with this form of social management.

I particularly liked the examination of social media personas, and the reference to Shudu (at the time of writing Shudu has 215k followers on Instagram) and Lil Miquela (3m followers) - two computer generated models/ blue tick verified influencers on Instagram as it truly reflected the blurred lines between real and virtual. This is particularly true when you consider we are now living in a time where people will ask social media platforms to remove natural unfiltered photos of themselves.

An interesting fact, that is particularly relatable was the insight that participation in The Sims reached an all time high of 20 million unique players worldwide, during the pandemic. If you're reading this statistic, you have made your virtual acquaintance with one of them. Given the backdrop of the pandemic, this insight makes sense as the escape from the daily briefings, as well as death and illness one can't control is counteracted by creating towns, nurturing families, and being in charge of the destiny of others is more appealing.

As we have adapted to living in a more virtual world, with virtual meetings and a reliance on artificial intelligence and machine learning, we are seeing technology as a true virtual assistant - being used to help hire people and detect illness for example.

Considering the complex nature of the book's subject matter, it is written in a relatable way, so even those who are not professionals in this space would be able to understand and digest well. It was also a relatively quick read.

The book is ideal for anyone who is interested in identity management, data privacy and social media. If you've watched Netflix documentaries like Coded Bias or The Social Dilemma you will probably like this. You may also find books by Jaron Lanier (eg Who Owns the Future) a welcome addition to your library.

***Thank you Netgalley and Elliot & Thompson for this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review***

If there’s anything I love, it’s discussing futurism and technology! This is the kind of book I could totally see myself learning about from CBC’s Spark (but in this case, I actually found it on NetGalley and received an e-ARC from Elliott & Thompson Limited in exchange for a review). The Future of You is an overview of various technologies that are complicating, problematizing, mutating, and perhaps rescuing our concept of identity as a legal and philosophical entity. Tracey Follows discusses everything from the bioethics of biometrics and facial recognition to transhumanist fantasies of mind uploading. There is certainly a feast for the mind here, but it’s the kind of multi-course meal that does not leave one sated.

Rather than attempt to summarize the wide array of technologies Follows discusses, let me quickly get at some of the themes. First, surveillance. The Future of You rightly points out that the rise in identity-tracking and identity-authenticating technologies means a corresponding increase in surveillance. Follows explains how this relates to the tension between decentralized and federated systems versus centralized systems. Second, convenience. New technologies make it easier and faster for people to confirm they are who they say they are. This is particularly important for the people in the world who currently lack any identity paperwork. Finally, innovation. New technologies would allow for changes to, for example, democracy, which Follows examines in the cases of Estonia’s “i-voting” and Taiwan’s highly personalized democratic system and handling of the pandemic.

Follows does a good job summarizing and surveying this very broad field. For people who want a whistle-stop tour of the various ways that digital technologies, particularly online ones, are challenging our notions of identity, The Future of You will likely be a useful guide. Unfortunately, for these very reasons, I personally was not satisfied.

Many of these technologies and issues were already known to me—and for the ones that weren’t, I was intrigued, but I wanted more than this book is equipped to give. This book made me realize I really miss the deep dives in non-fiction, the “here’s a whole book on a single bone in the body of this one dinosaur, lol” books. There is a whole book for each of the technologies discussed in this book. I can’t fault The Future of You for not being a deep dive, because it never claimed to go deep. But when I found myself skimming sections because I didn’t want to get attached to ideas I knew Follows would never explore thoroughly, I realized this book wasn’t working for me.

Preferences aside, however, I wasn't a fan of how uncritically Fellows presents some of the claims of technologists and futurists she features here. For example, at one point she cites a 2005 claim from Aubrey de Grey “that the rate of progress is accelerating so quickly that the first person to live to be 1,000 years old will probably be born only ten years after the first person to live to 150.” O rly? There’s no interrogation of this idea, literally no follow-up to it; Follows just moves on to her next thought, literally starting a new paragraph.

Now, I don’t believe Follows believes all of these various scenarios! Assuming the best of intentions, I would hope that Follows is simply trying to inspire and stoke the imaginations of her readers. I can get behind that. Nevertheless, extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. I believe the job of an author of a book like this is to examine critically these various ideas and technologies, not merely rattle them off like a “gee whiz, maybe in a century we’ll all be living to 1,000” factoid you’ll get on the back of a cereal box. This is particularly true for the more out-there stuff the transhumanists are saying, particularly around ideas like mind uploading.

Indeed, Follows claims in her introduction that The Future of You will eschew philosophical interrogations into the idea of identity—yet that is exactly what she does towards the end of the book. Discussions of modifying our kids’ genomes and uploading our minds into clone bodies inevitably verge into these philosophical territories. I don’t mind this, of course. I just wish Follows had been more up front about where the book was going.

Finally, I want to talk about how Follows discusses trans people. I was surprised to see us mentioned at all. At first I was just like, “Oh, it’s nice not to be erased in these discussions.” Issues of identity are so important for trans people, particularly when it comes to legal identity versus social identity. Alas, Follows chooses to focus narrowly on medical miracles of transition: look, trans men can have babies!!

And this is a problem.

I really, really need y’all to understand that if you only ever bring us up as medical curiosities, that is all we will ever be to cis people. We are not curiosities or props to be used in discussions of medical miracles. Stop featuring us in TV specials, and stop talking about us in books like this.

I will forestall my huge angry rant and just say that it would be easy to improve the trans discourse in this book. It’s fine to mention the medical stuff, but you need that to be a small part in a larger discussion about identity. If you’re not willing to go into that much depth, then yeah, honestly, I would prefer you didn’t talk about us at all.

Anyway.

The Future of You is a competent book if you’re looking for a survey. Poor trans discourse aside, I think Follows does a great job presenting some of the intriguing possible evolutions of identity in our future. Nevertheless, I was hoping for more depth to these discussions and more critical analysis.

Thank you to both #NetGalley and Elliot & Thompson for providing me an advance copy of Tracey Follows’s nonfiction work, The Future of You, in exchange for an honest review.

#TheFutureofYou is certainly an intriguing work about how new technologies can potentially transform the concept of personal identity and therefore society as a whole. The book is divided into seven large sections that seem vaguely arranged to mimic the stages of life.

For instance, the first section begins with an attempt to define the term personal identity (e.g. our legal identity, digital identity, physical identity, and so forth). The book ends with theories of what happens to things like a person’s digital assets after they die.

The author cites to various examples of companies, technologies, and persons working on personal data and identification projects. Although it was certainly interesting to learn about some of these revolutionary innovations, I felt that the author should have used fewer examples and instead explored only a handful of them in-depth.

There were far too many hypothetical questions. While I recognize that some may not have answers because the technology does not exist or not enough studies have been done on them yet, the information presented started to feel shallow about midway through the work.

Also, each section could have really benefitted from some headings, which is not something that I often say. Fortunately, the writing was clear and well-organized enough that it followed a very logical progression, but headings could have made the author’s points stronger or at least indicated when the reader was about to switch topics.

Finally, even if not all of the issues posited in the text materialize, I agree with the author in that they are all problems that individuals and society as a whole should at the very least be thinking about if not already discussing.

The Future of You presents ideas on how technology could affect our identity and our everyday lives in the upcoming years.

Tracey Follows shows how today’s technology can improve and digitize different aspects of our lives, introducing the idea of digital voting, digital currency, and digital identity. It might all sound scary or you might be thinking that these things could only happen in Black Mirror, but we are already on the path to integrate technology into our everyday life. I loved how the author introduced all these ideas alongside already existing, real-life examples. My personal favourite was when she shared her experience with the Estonian e-residency and digital identification system. Another example that I found really fascinating was about data collection and protection, and how this has become an important topic during the current pandemic.

These are just some of the many interesting topics she discusses throughout the book, and I particularly enjoyed that it makes you think about your own identity. Your ideas. Your way to present yourself on- and offline. Your future. Your connection to the digital world and the human perception of AI.

You can easily tell that it is a very well researched book and it is written in a very accessible way. The different chapters offer a deeper dive into different topics and each discussion offers pro and con to each topic.
I think this book gives you a very detailed look into our possible relationship with technologies in the future, how this could affect our lives and how we could use it to our advantage. But at the same time, it also presents all the hardships and drawbacks that could possibly come with these changes.

I would definitely recommend this book, even if you are not necessarily someone who considers themselves as a tech lover. It certainly gives a really interesting glimpse of the possible technological future, and writing is also very engaging. I really enjoyed it. :)

The Future of You is a book by UK “futurist” and strategy consultant Tracey Follows about the evolution of the notion of identity. By looking at emerging technologies and their impact on social attitudes, Follows gives us a glimpse into a future where personal identities become increasingly virtual and complex.

What I liked:

1. The author’s journalistic style is very accessible and full of concrete examples. For instance, she shows how the recent “e-residency” initiative in Estonia is challenging the concept of citizenship, or how biometrics already make our bodies an access key to a variety of private and public services.

2. Follows’ vision of the 21st century as a “post-privacy” is at the same time terrifying and fascinating. While being enthusiastic about the potential of technology to improve human life on Earth, she highlights the many risks and possible abuses that come with every kind of technological innovation.

3. The author explores different dimensions of identity from the physical to the virtual, both in today’s context and in anticipation of future trends. Her introduction to transhumanism and human enhancements is quite interesting.

What I found less convincing:

1. For most topics, Follows weights the pros and cons. On some occasions however, her arguments are one-sided and therefore much less convincing. This is the case when the author describes the “transparency” policy of Taiwan in very laudatory terms – without recognizing the shortcomings of this approach.

2. The conclusion is a bit lacking in depth, with an interesting opposition of different theories and a plea for a pluralistic approach to identity, but with very little concrete suggestions in terms of the legal and policy framework that’s needed to protect our multidimensional identities.

[Remark: I will wait till early March to publish my review on Goodreads, the book not being available yet]