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ionelvHaving one name only is good for certain things: tagging all accomplishments and wrongdoings to the individual that they belong to. The downside is loss of anonymity (which is quite precious for many reasons, e.g. keeping unwanted attention at bay, staying away from vulture media, corp or govt overreach). Having multiple names tackles the downsides somewhat. Writers (subversive or heavily eschewing social mores) and revolutionaries have used secondary monikers as protection from dragging their public and primary personhoods into their more speculative personas. People in witness protection programs, criminals or released prisoners have used it too.
Speculations:
1. Would it make sense for most people to have an anonymous public presence that is heavily insulated from prying eyes (including govt, corps, banks, friends, even immediate family)? What would be the pros and cons of such a society? Did this happen in the past and what did we learn from it (e.g. pirates, mercenaries, corporations, LLCs, gangsters)? How would it be accomplished today (e.g. blockchain)?
2. Should people be allowed to change their name/identity as easily as buying a loaf of bread? Should they be allowed to change their social security numbers as well (which would trigger a complete redo of most pension and retirement schemes)?
3. Should people be allowed to swap or trade their names and identities as they please? Historically, imposters, bastard children and cuckoo children come to mind as protoexamples of this scheme.
4. Should citizenship, private/public ownership and national borders be completely redefined to account for the above?
5. Should animals, plants, natural ecosystems, robots and AIs be granted (un)limited personhood status with (un)equal rights to humans? Why or why not?
6. Should money be redefined to be more explicit about its time value or completely replaced/complemented (gradually or in few discrete gated steps) with a different and more flexible universal exchange medium (e.g. crypto coin, rare elements, social credits)?
7. How do various value systems compare against each other empirically (e.g. religious, philosophical, consumerist, modern/Western union/pension schemes, etc)?
Speculations:
1. Would it make sense for most people to have an anonymous public presence that is heavily insulated from prying eyes (including govt, corps, banks, friends, even immediate family)? What would be the pros and cons of such a society? Did this happen in the past and what did we learn from it (e.g. pirates, mercenaries, corporations, LLCs, gangsters)? How would it be accomplished today (e.g. blockchain)?
2. Should people be allowed to change their name/identity as easily as buying a loaf of bread? Should they be allowed to change their social security numbers as well (which would trigger a complete redo of most pension and retirement schemes)?
3. Should people be allowed to swap or trade their names and identities as they please? Historically, imposters, bastard children and cuckoo children come to mind as protoexamples of this scheme.
4. Should citizenship, private/public ownership and national borders be completely redefined to account for the above?
5. Should animals, plants, natural ecosystems, robots and AIs be granted (un)limited personhood status with (un)equal rights to humans? Why or why not?
6. Should money be redefined to be more explicit about its time value or completely replaced/complemented (gradually or in few discrete gated steps) with a different and more flexible universal exchange medium (e.g. crypto coin, rare elements, social credits)?
7. How do various value systems compare against each other empirically (e.g. religious, philosophical, consumerist, modern/Western union/pension schemes, etc)?
