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Cyberneuroethics • 151
Creating Fake Identities
Sometimes, different identities may place conflicting demands on individu-
als that may be detrimental to their health or wellbeing and may cause them
to act in ways that have implications for the wellbeing or safety of others.
Certain individuals may even lose touch with reality and the responsibilities
they have towards themselves and others.
One concern in this regard is the manner in which the Internet makes it
possible for a person to create fake online identities,214 though social media
sites generally seek to stop any deliberate deception as part of their terms and
conditions.215 Facebook revealed in 2012 that it had 83 million fake accounts
(8.7 per cent of the total), though the majority were considered to be dupli-
cates or misclassified rather than ‘undesirable’ accounts (only 1.5 per cent of
the total).216
Individuals may create fake accounts to protect themselves from unwanted
intrusion, to divide their work and social lives, or because they are required
to have a unique user name,217 though fake identities can also be created in
order to perpetrate a crime.218 However, over the next few years, technologies
including facial recognition and other means of tracking digital ‘footprints’
may reduce the potential for fake identities remaining undiscovered.219
An example of the way in which the Internet can influence a person’s
identity was demonstrated when a married couple from Central Bosnia was
reported to have begun divorce procedures after they unknowingly chatted
each other up on the Internet using fake names.220 Apparently, Sana Klaric,
twenty-seven, and her husband Adnan, thirty-two, poured their hearts out
to each other online over their marriage troubles. Using the names ‘Sweetie’
and ‘Prince of Joy’ in an online chatroom, the pair thought they had found a
soulmate with whom to spend the rest of their lives. But there was no happy
ending after they turned up for a secret date and realised their mistake.
Now the pair is seeking to separate after accusing each other of unfaithful-
ness. Sana explained: ‘I was suddenly in love. It was amazing, we seemed to
be stuck in the same kind of miserable marriages. How right that turned out
to be.’ But when it dawned on her what had happened, she said: ‘I felt so
betrayed’. On the other hand, Adnan indicated: ‘I still find it hard to believe
that Sweetie, who wrote such wonderful things, is actually the same woman I
married and who has not said a nice word to me for years.’
Reflecting a More Positive Identity
As already indicated, it may be possible for persons to create completely new
identities through avatars in cyberspace or surrogate robots in real reality221
in order to make themselves more acceptable or attractive. It has also enabled
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Cyborg Mind
What Brain–Computer and Mind–Cyberspace Interfaces Mean for Cyberneuroethics
- Title
- Cyborg Mind
- Subtitle
- What Brain–Computer and Mind–Cyberspace Interfaces Mean for Cyberneuroethics
- Author
- Calum MacKellar
- Publisher
- Berghahn Books
- Date
- 2019
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-1-78920-015-7
- Size
- 15.2 x 22.9 cm
- Pages
- 264
- Keywords
- Singularity, Transhumanism, Body modification, Bioethics
- Category
- Technik
Table of contents
- Chapter 1. Why Use the Term ‘Cyberneuroethics’? 9
- Chapter 2. Popular Understanding of Neuronal Interfaces 25
- Chapter 3. Presentation of the Brain–Mind Interface 31
- Chapter 4. Neuronal Interface Systems 43
- Developments in Information Technology 44
- Developments in Understanding the Brain 45
- Developments in Neuronal Interfaces 46
- Procedures Involved in Neuronal Interfaces 47
- Output Neuronal Interface Systems: Reading the Brain and Mind 49
- Input Neuronal Interface Systems: Changing the Brain and Mind 57
- Feedback Systems of the Brain and Mind 67
- Ethical Issues Relating to the Technology of Neuronal Interfaces 84
- Chapter 5. Cyberneuroethics 99
- Chapter 6. Neuronal Interfaces and Policy 217
- New Cybercrimes 218
- Policy Concerns 223
- Conclusion 229
- Human Autonomy 232
- Resistance to Such a Development 234
- Risks of Neuronal Interfaces 234
- Appendix. Scottish Council on Human Bioethics Recommendations on
- Cyberneuroethics 239
- Glossary 244
- Index 251