Page - 145 - in Cyborg Mind - What Brain–Computer and Mind–Cyberspace Interfaces Mean for Cyberneuroethics

Cyberneuroethics • 145 Personal identity, on the other hand, can describe the way in which individ- uals perceive attributes that they consider as being uniquely their own. These merge to form an experience of embodied self in contrast to external reality. Erikson also highlighted the consistency of identity over time, so that in different times and places, a person continues to have an innate sense of being the same person, although changing circumstances can still cause a shift in the sense of identity.186 The concept of identity is now essential in a wide range of disciplines and a number of definitions have developed accordingly.187 For example, the notion of identity has been explored from a sociocultural perspective, or with an emphasis on discovering self-identity, such as in the transition from adolescence to adulthood.188 Generally, however, it is accepted that a person may reflect several aspects of identity that can best be understood as socially constructed, complex, mul- tifaceted and highly contextual, reflecting the following points: – The way in which individuals perceive themselves and their place in soci- ety, together with how they are seen by others. In this way, human beings may have coexisting, multifaceted, overlapping identities, which may vary depending upon the context. For instance, the same individual may be a parent, a company employee or a sports athlete. – The choices of an individual when he or she becomes, for example, a member of a social group. – The inclusive nature of identity when a person belongs to groups such as a family, team or religious community. However, there may also be an ‘exclusive’ angle when a person is rejected by a particular group.189 A previously discussed example is the Deaf community, in which some fami- lies develop a certain identity because of a congenital inability to hear. Being Deaf may indeed form a key part of someone’s identity, especially when such a condition manifests itself at a young age. Any attempt to ‘resolve’ the con- dition, as though it is inherently problematic, can undermine the experience of identity of a Deaf person who does not view his or her Deafness as a disor- der. A number of individuals go so far as to stress that they may lose part of their identity if they are no longer part of this Deaf community. In discussing the concept of identities, it is also important to first empha- sise the different ways in which these can be distinguished. Though a degree of overlap may exist and there is no consensus in the literature, it is possible to differentiate between the following:190 – Numerical identity, which examines the number of persons who exist and whether they are distinct. For example, it considers whether the continuous This open access edition has been made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license thanks to the support of Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale.