Mirroring Minds - Reflections, Responsibilities, and Opportunities
Soon, there will be an app that will collect all of your digital exhaust. This will include everything that you have searched for, tweeted about or liked, every YouTube video watched, every Reddit upvote, and all the platform rabbit holes that make up your digital persona. With algorithms like Watson coming online, where natural language is understood and processed, interfacing with your digital persona will be as personal as looking in the mirror. Only this mirror’s reflection is not dependent on who you are in that moment, but who you have been for the length of your digital life.
Our Minds Channels are a responsibility...
One of the most valuable experiences of my life was when I took my first psychedelic in the form of a mushroom. I remember seeing myself in the mirror, eyes dilated, colors amplified, with no feeling of intoxication, just a lucidity of introspection.
It caused me to perceive myself in the reflection as I was, not as I told myself I would be when I had the time or the other number of justifications that had resulted in the 400+ pound man looking back at me in the mirror. The psychedelic experience gave me a perspective of reality. The clarity in the reflection allowed me to solidify concrete goals for who and what I would see in a mirror of the future.
A year and a half later, I had lost over 200 pounds and was competing in the Ironman triathlon.
This might sound a bit out there, but let’s look at some research from Stanford University’s virtual reality lab, where participants experienced what’s been called the Proteus Effect. With the latest in virtual reality technology, users were immersed in virtual environments. When confronted with a mirror, the avatar represented in the reflection can be altered. Studies show that this dramatically changes the behaviors and attitudes given the avatar’s appearance. For example, if the avatar was taller, the user would negotiate more aggressively than the users who were given shorter avatars. It was found that the behavioral changes stemming from the virtual environment transferred to subsequent face-to-face interactions.
This is only a graphical avatar and studies show how dramatic the effect can be on people who use virtual reality for therapy and such.
When we can see ourselves as we are, not clouded in hyperbole. We are empowered to reflect our best selves. I currently check the mirror to assess biological hygiene, will I soon be able to check my digital mirror for the state of my mental hygiene? The shows I watch, the websites I visit, the blogs I read, all reflect what’s in my mind.
This “App” that allows you to interface and communicate with the sum of all your digital life, this digital mirror, or representation of everything that has ever been collected online about your persona. Will fundamentally change how we see ourselves. Honestly ask yourself. What will it be like to interact with a mirror that knows everything about you?