How Technology Impacts Communication and Identity-Creation

Abstract

The basic thesis of this paper is that communication is a fundamental activity of all human practices and that identity is constructed with the help of communication. Defining identity cannot be explained and understood exclusively from the standpoint of philosophy, sociology, political science or psychology. Given that the Latin root of the word communication, communio, refers to community, we can say that communication as a science best covers the relationships that people establish within the community such as schools, families, work environment, social networks and forums. The activity of communication is the establishment of a community, i.e., sociability. To communicate means to unite something – to bring one’s actions into harmony with the community and with social life. In that sense, communication is in its essence a transition from the individual to the collective. 

In addition, any specific form of communication depends on the wider cultural and socio-political environment in which modern people operate. This paper aims to explore the impact of technology on individual identity, to answer questions about whether robots can have the same characteristics as personalities, and whether, and in what way, machines have an impact on people. The reason for asking such questions is the decision of the Committee on Legal Affairs of the European Parliament to pass a law that will grant autonomous robots the status of “electronic personalities”.