The Future of You
The Future of You is the home of Tracey Follows’ ongoing work on identity, agency, and the changing relationship between systems and selves in an AI-mediated world.
This channel now brings together three strands of that work.
The Future of You podcast explores how technology is reshaping identity, from digital selves and predictive systems to automation, intimacy, trust, and human futures.
The Future of You audio series is the original 2021 book, released here chapter by chapter. It explores what Tracey came to call the technology of the self: a third dimension of identity, alongside the psychology of the self and the biology of the self. These recordings are presented as an audio archive of the original published text.
Me:chine Dialogues is a special series from The Future of You exploring identity, agency, and AI-mediated systems — where the machinable and unmachinable selves meet. It follows the emerging synthetic condition shaping who we are becoming: not man versus machine, but the meeting of selves, the part that can be copied and the part that can never be caught.
Together, these three strands trace an evolving inquiry into identity: from the digital self, to the technological self, to the Me:chine self.
Across all of them runs one continuous question: what happens to human identity when the systems around us begin to see us, sort us, predict us, generate us, and increasingly speak in our name?
Identity is becoming infrastructure for systems. This channel explores what remains of the self inside them.
Core concepts include:
Systems & Self
Identity as Infrastructure
The Technology of the Self
Me:chine — the machinable and unmachinable self
New here? Start with:
→ Me:chine Dialogues: Manifesto
→ The Future of You audio series: Chapter 1, Knowing You
→ The Future of You podcast archive
Visit:
→ Me:chine World and essays: me-chine.com
→ Podcast archive: The Future of You
→ Audio series: weekly chapters on this channel Introduction
About Tracey Follows
Tracey Follows is a futurist specialising in identity, agency, and the relationship between systems and selves in an AI-mediated world. Her work includes the frameworks Systems & Self, Identity as Infrastructure, and Me:chine, exploring the machinable and unmachinable dimensions of human identity.
The Future of You was named Best Tech Show at the Independent Podcast Awards 2023.
Her central premise: “The future is written between the system and the self.”
Follow to receive each new transmission as it is released.AI-mediated systems - where the machinable and unmachinable selves meet.
The Future of You
Digital Identity and Self Sovereignty with Kaliya Young & Lucy Yang #7
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Imagine a world in which you control your own identity and are truly the arbiter of which personal information is shared with others. The tools making this a reality are evolving right now…
At the spearhead of the movement for self-sovereign identity are Kaliya Young, a leader in decentralised identity, and Lucy Yang, a tech entrepreneur and advisor. We hear from them on The Future of You this week, as we dissect digital wallets, verifiable credentials, digital identity, anonymity and self-sovereignty.
This episode of The Future of You covers:
- Why digital identity is so important and how it differs from the physical realm
- The tools Kaliya and Lucy are developing to enable self-sovereign identities
- Whether anonymity or pseudonymity is feasible while maintaining accountability
- Wallet Wars: how might wallets evolve and consolidate across the public and private sector
- The principles of physical identity that must carry over into a digital solution and the importance of Opens Standards
The Future of You: Can Your Identity Survive 21st Century Technology?: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Future-You-Identity-21st-Century-Technology-ebook/dp/B08XBN4GBB
Links and references at: https://www.traceyfollows.com/
