Joanna Nadin 
The Future of the Self 

Look in the mirror – what do you see?

We all feel, instinctively, that self exists. That somewhere inside us, under the clothes, the make-up and self-tan, lurks a hard ‘pearl’, a kernel of truth called ‘me’. And it’s big business uncovering that ‘authentic’ kernel. It’s also a fool’s errand, because that ‘true self’? It doesn’t exist. Self is no more than a story we tell ourselves. It’s mutable, pliable as Plasticine. Worse, it’s not even strictly autobiographical, but co-authored with those around us. And as such, there is no one version, but myriad, and the number is growing as we are exposed to ever more connections.

We are already seeing the effects travel, television, and celebrity culture can have on the formation of self, but as digital and social media exposure grows, and in the advent of AI, what will happen to our sense of self? Can we become ever more multiple and adapt better to our globalised world? Or will we dissolve into narcissitic, detached ‘nobodies’?

عن المؤلف

Joanna Nadin is a former broadcast journalist and special adviser to the Prime Minister. Since leaving politics she’s written more than ninety books for children and adults, including the Carnegie nominated Joe All Alone, which is now a BAFTA-winning and Emmy-nominated BBC drama. Her adult novels – The Queen of Bloody Everything, The Talk of Pram Town and The Double Life of Daisy Hemmings – explore the formation of identity, including transformations, doubling and multiple self, which was the subject of her Ph D. She is now Associate Professor in Creative Writing at the University of Bristol.