Society centered around collecting identities

Okay I have an idea for a dystopia, ahem

The premise is simple. The abstract concept of the identity, the memories, personality and appearances that make a person who they are, becomes something that can be stripped from or granted to a person. Those stripped of their identity become empty shells and are programmed to serve the society as robotic husks, becoming more thing than person in the eyes of the masses. Those at the Apex of the pecking order would have large collections of identities that they can use to mix and match, or that could be used to escape by bequeathing them to a poor sap after committing various malignant deeds.

I make this thread to ask about what would happen in this society and how life inside would operate. Would people put more effort in their image knowing it would make them more valuable? Would they see identity as more transient and transactional? Would they lose themselves in their collection of masks?

I also want to ask about potential methods for how identity itself can be make fungible in this manner, if possible, and the implications of these methods

Does the soul exist in this universe? if not, then identities are just infinitely copyable data that would have little actual value.

If so, taking away identity is akin to murder.

I suppose that my main thought is that, surely, someone taking on the identity of another would then think that they were that other, and attempt to live that person's life. They would then presumably not think to "change back"...

Unless they also keep their own memories and identity along with the new set...? But that sounds like it could become awfully confusing...

Or they have some sort of external "reminder" or "reset device" that "brings them back"...

A question: what happens to memories formed under an assumed identity when that identity is replaced?

Indeed, do people remember anything from previous identities, and if not why would they take on other identities so...? (Other than, as you say, escaping prosecution or punishment.)

The soul exists, though I'm going for something closer for Death of Personality here.

Good questions.

• for assumed identities that is a tricky one. It would likely be contextual. Deepening on if it was created per normal means (in which case it is not considered separate from the identity that created it and is packaged with that identity)
• I intended from the original identity to bleed onto the stolen ones and altering them in some way
• That is also a good question, I'd say escapism and espionage is a big one here but that is something I'll have to think about as well.

This sounds similar to the setting for The Doll House.

Identities are external. You wouldn't be an empty husk without an identity. You would be you, but you wouldn't know who you are.

Depends. Social Identity is an extremely important element in the Self-Identity. We define ourselves, in part, by the groups we belong to (and by the ones we think we oppose).

Still, it doesn't take long to join a community, so the social identity is the easiest component to replace.

I have a possible line of thinking about why a freshly taken identity doesn't immediately fight the new owner's one. The new identity is now in an unfamiliar vessel, new body, new surroundings, etc. So the "taker" has the home advantage, so to speak. Willpower, however you define it, could probably play a large factor in shifting this dynamic. So a particularly weak-willed person could be overcome by an identity they take, maybe not completely overtaken in most cases, but warped enough that neither of the original identities are recognizable afterwards. This could be taken to the extreme with a strong-willed character who deliberately lets someone else take their identity, only to then overwhelm them, could play very well with the espionage theme. This is of course under the assumption that identity and consciousness are at least somewhat connected.

I just see the concept of identity no different from the concept of clothing.

And identity theft as stealing someone's clothes, leaving the owner naked but otherwise fine.

Unless the owner is turned into clothing upon the theft, then they are in a And I Must Scream scenario while the thief is wearing them.

Imagine. The status of an identity-thief depending on how big their wardrobe is to store all those (people-turned-into-clothes) identities they've claimed for their own.

Edited by Trainbarrel on Mar 7th 2024 at 3:35:44 PM