Records, Hyperobjects
and Authenticity
Overview
In this essay I argue that authenticity will remain an essential qualification of
records in a digital environment. Authentication, is, and will stay, dependent on the
interaction between three entities: the authenticator, the authenticated and the
informed. This interaction however, will undergo fundamental changes.
The reason for this is that the nature of records has changed dramatically in a digital
environment. They have become so vast and so distributed that we might view them
as part of a Hyperobject, along the line of reasoning of the ecological philosopher
Timothy Morton. From that new perspective I will explore the concept of the
Hyperobject to grasp this nature. I will also examine how authentication of a
hyperobject might work. The essay will conclude with some general observations on
what is new and what is not; and on ethical challenges considering the
authentication of this hyperobject.
In the essay a lot of topics, questions and deliberate choices are addressed. Therefore,
it can only depict a snapshot of a line of reasoning that should be elaborated.1
Authenticity: a word of ominous import
Writing about authenticity is a hazardous enterprise. There are moral philosophers
who try to convince us that we are currently "living in an Age of Authenticity"
(Taylor, 2007, p. 514). The word has penetrated deeply into popular culture. Creating
the "sensation of authenticity" is a billion-dollar business and one of the
fundaments of consumer economics (Gilmore and Pine II, 2007).
In the western world authenticity is often considered as a natural characteristic of
human beings by many people. When a person is authentic, he is close to his true
nature. On the internet you can find an enormous amount of authenticity tests for
one's personality. There is a nice paradox in assessing a person's authenticity. The
more authentic you want to be, the less your authenticity will be experienced as such
by others. Your authenticity tends to withdraw and disappear when you are too
conscious of it. Authenticity "disappears when you talk about it" (Weijts, 2016,
p. 61). Ankersmit relates a feeling of authenticity to an experience of something
being imperfect. What is perfect will never affect us. (Ankersmit, 1993, p. 24).
frans smit
1 I would like to express my gratitude to Geert-Jan van Bussel, Arnoud Glaudemans and Martijn van Otterlo
for their comments on earlier versions.
249