The Commoditization of the Self

In Search of Authenticity, Humility, and Community in an Age of Self-Branding

We live in a new world with a virtual reality and a new dualism to contend with.

This new virtual world has perfect avatars and is inhabited by AI bots, filters, robot voiceovers, memes, reels, plagiarists, phony influencers, clickbaiters, hyperbolists, e-beggars, depraved entrepreneurs, echo chambers, and its overlord, the Almighty Algorithm.

And the old more mundane world of bad teeth, disheveled and missing hair, smelly armpits, annoying alarm clocks, traffic jams, long lines, overdue utility bills, exhaustion, ageing, and death.

The new world really needs to add Taco Tuesdays, margaritas, and an infinity pool. I did submit that request to the development team but have yet to hear back.

The human condition has enough dualism already to deal with and I wonder how the addition of more dualism is affecting the self.

There is that nagging dualism that there is a little homunculus dude or dudette sitting in a fancy gaming chair right behind your eyes who is ultimately in control and driving your plane without even the courtesy to ask your permission.

Or the dualism of having that incessant internal dialogue with yourself about this, that, or the other thing, overthinking everything, questioning all your choices, both nagging and encouraging; your own personal frenemy.

Then there’s that old standby dualism of a belief in an internal soul as apart from the body which is either destined for eternal paradise or damnation. For us secular folk that is just our sassy unique inner hostage longing to escape, express itself, and somehow become our true, special, and far more interesting self.

”I’m in here, damn it. Why can’t you all see and love me as I truly am.”

In fact, beyond the dualism phenomena, we just have a lot of selves, maybe an infinite amount.

There is the self that rolls out of bed, grumbles, rubs the crust off the corner of its mouth and stumbles to the bathroom, completely insouciant and oblivious to the external world; a very robotic and barely conscious self.

There is the hyper-vigilant, angst-ridden, conscientious, minding our Ps and Qs self at a job interview.

There is the composed, docile, well coiffed, appropriately dressed, behaved and thoughtful self at a funeral.

There is the aggressive, tough, no nonsense, you want a piece of me, road rage self after someone rudely cuts you off on the highway.

There is the childlike, uninhibited, boisterous, vigorous, socializing with friends after three cocktails self.

And then there is an online self that posts selfies by the pool, on vacation in Tuscany, at a 5-star Michelin Restaurant eating Beluga's Almas Caviar, driving a rented Bugatti in front of someone else’s super mansion, and sunning on a megayacht with a glass of Avenue Foch Champagne giving away free e-books so you register for a $1500 seminar on self-help, crypto investing, or a timeshare in Aspen.

Who cares if it was all accomplished with Instagram filters, AI, or a green screen!

Because if you truly want to be anybody these days, you’ll really need to master that latter self.

Oh yeah, there’s a new self on the block, haven’t you heard? Everyone is doing it. Can you feel the FOMO?

What, you don’t have an opinion about stuff? Don’t you want a new side hustle?

If you just need an exorbitant amount of attention or want to make some easy bucks these days, you’re gonna need to brand and commoditize yourself.

You’re probably a critic or a frustrated writer, maybe a born vlogger or podcaster, or maybe you’ve got a lovely backside or big muscles that you could monetize? Got a cute cat?

Monetize that shit!

Join the new self-branding narcissist society, bro!

Do you even know how easy it is to manipulate people, to lie to them, to use their ignorance, fear, and desires to get what you need? You can sell these poor saps anything.

Commoditize your badass self. Nurture your internal corporation.

It’s not like we’ve not always been commoditized or anything anyway, right? Take advantage of it. We’ve been getting it from the man for millennia.

Heck, we were commoditized as tillers of the dirt for our feudal overlords, taxpayers for the kings, smashers of the nails for the railroad tycoons, pickers of the cotton for the plantation bosses, axers of carbon and jewels for the mine propietor, tappers on the typewriters for the news moguls, and button pushers for the Board of Directors.

After all, we’re just furniture for the owners, reminiscent of a scene from Soylent Green. “They’re eating people.”

We’re traffic to be routed through the social media highway to someone else’s chosen destination, their El Dorado.

Sorry, I really got carried away there for a minute.

Listen, social media does indeed provide some great opportunities but please don’t lose your good selves amid all the noise.

We don’t have to lie, constantly pander, or sell our “soul” to get a bit ahead and create a nice life for ourselves.

There is nothing wrong with making an honest buck but our characters are determined by how we make that buck and what we are willing to sacrifice.

We have enough dishonest and ambitious people on this planet more concerned with power, money, and fame than just being a decent, moral person and living a good life without exploiting or harming anyone in the process.

Most of us just want to be heard, to be respected, to be loved, to find meaning, and to belong somewhere.

Two of my most favoritist thinkers, Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jaques Rousseau, once engaged in a philosophical dialogue and mused over human nature, the self, and society but their views were wildly divergent and contradictory.

The conversation might be summed up as “What is the nature of the self in a state of nature and what happens to it in society?”

Hobbes believed we are selfish and competitive by nature while Rousseau argued rather that we are cooperative and good by nature.

Hobbes argued that it is only civil society that can harness and curb our violent tendencies while Rousseau suggested that it only corrupts and distorts our natural goodness.

Hobbes saw our nature as driven by fear and desire and Rousseau, empathy and self-love.

They both saw our nature as dualistic with an internal and external self fighting it out in an eternal battle of goodness against our fear, competition, glory, pride, jealousy, and vanity.

Hobbes blamed our nature for our violent and selfish behavior and considered the civilizing forces of society to be the only antidote, while Rousseau that it only alienates us from our true better angels.

Who do you think was right? If you ask me that question, my answer is “Yes!”

Anyway, back to that whole new virtual world thing with perfect avatars and all the new exciting tech.

I really enjoyed Ready Player One, so let me know when we get there. I’m getting very impatient.

It looks like a lot of fun to play at some future surrogate dress up and send a virtual me to go skiing in the alps without worrying my knee will go out.

Sadly, we’re lving in a prehistoric beta version of Ready Player One and VR gives me vertigo.

The story is a classic tale of good versus evil set in the future where a sweet, innocent boy living a rather miserable dystopian life spends most of his time in a fabulous virtual world where everything is possible.

He meets a girl, falls in love, finds a community with loyal, honest, good people, ends up leading a rebellion against the evil, greedy, and selfish overlords, unites all the people, overthrows evil, inherits the virtual world but shares it with his friends and gives everyone more days off and reminds people to take time to live in and appreciate the real world and not to neglect our real life and the real people and relationships which make life worth living.

Sigh. Sob. Smile