Twin, Does It Matter If It’s Even You Anymore?

Have you ever watched an outfit inspiration video to decide what you’re going to wear, and did you go and buy a part of the outfit when you realized you didn’t own it? Chances are you care about how your clothes express you as a person, but do you know if it’s even you?

Everybody wants to feel like they are their own individual person, and with the rapid increase of AI, humans are fearfully searching for an identity they can call their own. one that’s completely real and unique. People search for what they can trust, and who can they trust if not themselves?

People want their identity to be perceived in a way that pertains to what they want others to know. The need to be perceived is so strong because it’s a way to claim your identity in a way validated by others. They want to be a pre-debut fan of an idol group, a day one fan of some Instagram account, just to lay a mark; something that lets others know they are here, they exist. A legacy is the strongest trail of existence. Legacy will outlast anyone so even when someone is gone others know they were real and genuinely existed. It’s hard for humans to truly exist in a time where not much truly exists. Identity can’t be forged in a work setting anymore, jobs are getting scarcer as corporations turn to AI, humans become worthless, they must turn elsewhere to find themselves. Who can you trust? What can you trust? People can’t do anything besides put themselves out into the world with the hope of being remembered for something they connected to themselves.

As the search for identity intensifies, many turn to fashion and physical items to express themselves. But this is pure consumerism at its core. The brand of clothing someone wears should not hold any impact on who they are as a whole. The search for identity is an entirely human trait, and people have always turned to fashion as a way to express it. In the world we live in with all its uncertainties, many are desperately searching for something physical and real they can use to show who they are.

So, they turn to clothing, a way to look different from the masses but they look no different from anyone else now. If a piece of clothing can make someone more niche, nothing will carry any meaning. This clothing identity, which now means dressing or looking more “alternative”, is completely driven by the algorithm. It shows people videos of some niche to make them feel special, like its their own identity, specially curated based on them. But truly, the algorithm is shaping our identity, not our own selves. We are not our own people, but rather we are simply decided on what to be by the system. Lots turn to the alt subcultures to try and distinguish themselves from others, but don’t follow the actual backing of the alternative ideals; the actual thoughts and culture of what makes a person alt. Therefore muddying what “alt” even means anymore.

It doesn’t even matter if anyone is truly themselves anymore. It doesn’t matter if you really have your own identity. They will plan it all out for you if you want—if you let them. It’s so easy to turn your brain off and submit, maybe that’s how it will happen anyways, it already is. It’s easier to sit on your bed and scroll and passively watch through a screen the tragedies that happen on our own streets, in our own country to our own fellow citizens and if you think it doesn’t affect you, it always does. Submittance of the mind is the first step to total control of the people, this passiveness is not a coincidence.

We need to care. It needs to matter who you are; it’s not simply an outfit, it’s a visible cue to the erasure of human identity in the time of AI. So instead of looking and dressing a certain way to appear niche or interesting as your sole identity, become aware of your own morals that aren’t shaped by a type of baggy jeans on Instagram. Find an identity outside of the algorithm, and use your voice to speak up for what is right. Make you matter.