From: Joscha Bach Sent: Friday, Novem er , 1 :1 To: Kevin Slavin Cc: Joi Ito; Martin Nowak; Epstein Jeffrey; Ari Gesher, takashi ikegami Subject: Re: The benefits of deception Kevin, thank you for your excellent input and inspired questions on this =opic! > The broad idea is that we'll need to build slack into systems of =biquitous computing. That there's a paradox in that in order to have a =ohesive identity, certain aspects of our lives require omission (or =.g., deception). There are two sides to this: first of all, many of our interaction =artners may have difficulties to accept (or even comprehend) the =nteractions and social norms that we maintain in other contexts (think: =iving in a small town in the midwest vs visiting Burning Man; religious =ommunity vs. less usual sexual interests; family life vs. work life; =rganizational role vs. friendships). As a result, we compartmentalize =ur social expression. In a culturally inhomogeneous society, this kind =f deception (in the sense of hiding parts of my personality depending =n the context) is a prerequisite of meaningful freedom. But on a deeper level: while we may maintain the illusion of a coherent =elf, we do not possess a single social persona. Our social identity =merges not only over our personality, but also over the individual =elationships in which it manifests. We become who we are through the =eflection of others. > The ethnographer Tricia Wang coined "The Elastic Self' after spending = lot of time with Chinese and American youth using various forms of =ocial software (...) The notion of the "Elastic Self' might capture both aspects. On one =and, we may explore different possible ways of self- actualization by =eeping social contexts isolated from each other, on the other, we =sually maintain more than one persona. > How would you build a system that provides a patient with the ability =o continue acting deceptively -- in order to maintain a cohesive =dentity -- while prov