social identity | Realize Engineering

It has been estimated that there are 150 species of bacteria in our gut with a megagenome correspondingly larger than the human genome; and that 90% of the cells in our bodies are bacterial [1]. This challenges a simple understanding of individual identity because on one level we are a collection of organisms, mainly bacteria, rather than a single entity. The complexity is almost incomprehensible with 30 trillion cells in the human body each with about a billion protein molecules [2]. Each cell is apparently autonomous, making decisions about its role in the system based on information acquired through communicating and signalling with its neighbours, the rest of the system and the environment. Its autonomy would appear to imbue it with a sense of individual identity which is shaped by its relationships within the network of cells [3]. This also holds for human beings within society although you could argue the network is simpler because the global population is only about 8 billion; however the quantity of information being communicated is probably greater than between cells, so perhaps that makes the network more complex. Networks are horizontal hierarchies with no one or thing in overall control and they can adapt to cope with changes in the environment. By contrast, vertical hierarchies depend on top-down obedience and tend to eliminate dissent, yet without dissent there is little or no innovation or adaptation. Hence, vertical hierarchies can appear to be robust but are actually brittle [4]. In a network we can build connections and share knowledge leading to the development of a collective intelligence that enables us to solve otherwise intractable problems. Our ability to acquire knowledge not just from own our experiences but also from the experience of others, and hence to progressively grow collective intelligence, is one of the secrets of our success as a species [5]. It also underpins the competitive advantage of many successful organisations; however, it needs a horizontal, stable structure with high levels of trust and mutual dependence, in which our sense of individual identity is shaped by our relationships.

References:

Gilbert SF, Sapp J, Tauber AI, A symbiotic view of life: we have never been individuals, Quarterly Review of Biology, 87(4):325-341, 2012.
Ball P, How Life Works, Picador, 2023.
Wheatley M, Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World, 2^nd Edition, Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc, San Francisco, 1999.
McWilliams D, Money – A Story of Humanity, Simon & Schuster, London, 2024.
Henrich J, The secret of our success: how culture is driving human evolution, domesticating our species, and making us smarter, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015.

For many people Zoom fatigue is very real. It has been studied by Jeremy Bailenson at Stanford University [see ‘‘Zoom fatigue’ brought into focus by Stanford study‘ in the FT on February 26th, 2021]. He found that one source of tiredness was the high level of self-evaluation that arises from continually having to look at a video of yourself. Of course, it is easy to fix by choosing not to display your own video on your screen. We all have two egos: one is our subjectivity or the physical sensations registered by our body via our senses; and, the other is our reputation or the reflection of ourselves which forms our social identity [see ‘A reflection on existentialism‘ on December 20th, 2017]. Gloria Orrigi describes this second self as not a simple reflection but one that is ‘warped, amplified, redacted and multiplied in the eyes of others’. Perhaps it is hardly surprising that being constantly exposed to the view of ourselves being seen by others over a video conference raises our level of fatigue as we subconsciously and constantly review the impression being made on others. Orrigi describes our reputation as being like the trail left by snails has they slither over surfaces. Our social interactions with others leave deposits in their minds that become an information trail that we cannot erase and can only partially control. The pandemic has forced many of our social interactions to be via the internet which means they also leave electronic trails over which we have little control and cannot erase; however, we probably worry less about these traces than we do those left in the minds of others. Perhaps that is why our conversations lack spontaneity when conducted via a Zoom call [see ‘Distancing ourselves from each other‘ on January 13th, 2021] or maybe it’s just because it’s very difficult to gossip on a video conference even using the ‘chat’ function. Robin Dunbar has suggested that the real reason language evolved in humans is to allow us to gossip and thus maintain the social cohesion. If we are suffering from a loss of social cohesion caused by a lack of gossip then it is likely our stress levels would be raised causing us further fatigue. So, maybe we should be picking up our phones and calling people for a chat instead of scheduling meetings on Zoom.

The picture is the photograph of me that others see when I switch off my camera in an internet call. It’s a selfie with which I am happy, for the moment anyway.

Sources:

Robin Dunbar, Grooming, gossip and the evolution of language, London: Faber and Faber, 1996.

Gloria Origgi, Reputation: what it is and why it matters, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018.