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
Identity Slop: The Rise of Synthetic Media Experts
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
What if the expert quoted in the story doesn’t exist?
Jesse Chambers is quoted across British newspapers as a travel expert, offering advice on everything from cruise ships to long-haul flights.
There is just one problem.
She doesn’t exist.
In this episode of Me:chine Dialogues, Tracey Follows speaks with journalist Rob Waugh about the emergence of synthetic experts: fabricated identities designed to supply quotes, authority, and credibility within media systems.
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.
What begins as a curious case opens into something much larger. These are not isolated errors or instances of misinformation. They point to a structural shift in how identity is produced and used.
Tracey introduces the concept of identity slop: the moment when personal identity becomes commoditised, scalable, and generated to meet the needs of AI-mediated information systems.
If expertise can be generated, identity can be fabricated.
And if identity can be fabricated, authority itself can be automated.
This conversation explores what happens next: for trust, for authorship, and for the human self inside increasingly synthetic systems.
Key Ideas
- Identity Slop synthetic identity as low-cost, scalable content
- Synthetic Experts fabricated authority inserted into media systems
- Machine-Readable Identity selves optimised for system consumption
- AI-Mediated Information Systems environments that generate and reward synthetic identity
You can find more about this topic through Rob’s work at Press Gazette
Visit:
→ Me:chine World and essays: me-chine.com
→ Podcast archive The Future of You
→ Audiobook series (weekly chapters) 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.
Her central premise: “The future is written between the system and the self.”
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Music
"A New Day (intro)" Performed by Skott
Licensed courtesy of Cosmos Music, Safari Riot
Licensed courtesy of Downtown Music UK Limited, Safari Riot Publishing, Sony Music Publishing
