Identity Migration: Static to Dynamic
A Tesla isn’t a car. It’s a phone.
I’ll get to that in a minute. But what I need first to address is the current state of Tesla as a brand - then I’ll address it as a product and try to prove my analogy.
Tesla as a Brand
Any company headed by Elon Musk carries with it the weight of his personal brand and politics. And right now (October, 2024), that is a MAGA stain in my opinion. I consider this to be an unavoidable aspect of my analysis. Even though I am not an American citizen, I believe we must all be aware of what continues to play out in terms of disinformation, lies and manipulation. And we certainly have our fair share of that in Canada.?
Tesla as a Product
A Tesla isn’t a car. What we think of as a car doesn’t really exist anymore. Marshall McLuhan had posited that the function of a motor car (his own words) was not transportation, but privacy. While an interesting take on the vehicles of that time (late 1960s and 1970s) based on their size, and design for personal comfort and quietness - his assertion makes sense. Most who commute today still do so alone and perhaps that function of privacy is an astute observation.
But a car was also much more than that. A car used to be an identity. The type of vehicle you drove said much about you. Now, identity is constructed and maintained online, on Instagram, TikTok, Linkedin and other social media. A car was freedom. A car was a right of passage in growing up.
While those concepts are still present, the functions of a car have been altered and replaced. And there is no better example of this migration than a Tesla.
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Much like an iPhone, it comes in a base model color. If you want another color, you’ll have to pay for that. A Tesla needs to be charged to function, like a phone. A Tesla runs entirely on software, like a phone. That software controls everything about the device. It can be changed, altered and throttled like a phone. It reports on user activities and behaviors, like a phone.
A Tesla doesn’t do identity, though it risks becoming a MAGA identifier. Time will tell if it can survive the current state of affairs of its CEO. A Tesla is simply a practical solution to the problem of mobility.
Identity Migration
The migration of identity from static (cars, clothes, objects) to dynamic (digital and social media) produces specific effects and characteristics, as follows…
Speed. Static identifiers take time to acquire or curate. And the lifespan or use time of static identifiers is also longer. While clothes and fashion may change seasonally or annually, items are worn for several weeks, months or years. Similarly, one might own the same car for 5 years or more. Dynamic identifiers may be changed instantly and repeatedly in digital. Like a skin in a video game, or avatar clothing and accessories.?
Desire. The ability to change dynamic identifiers with speed increases the potential for desire. The desire for new, the desire to change, the desire to design identity for the moment. The easier it is to achieve the benefits of desire, the more desire builds according to whim.
Fluidity. Static identifiers reinforce a constant, unchanging concept. Dynamic identifiers promote fluidity and the ability to experiment and evolve.
As identity migration accelerates, it leaves its wake like a boat on the water. Those within the wake understand and are aligned. For the rest outside of the wake, the process is bumpy and turbulent. Dynamic clashes with static identity.?
That is very different from what previously would have been referred to as a ‘generation gap’. A generation gap is a change in values from one generation to the next that often perplexes (and disappoints) the disrupted, older generation.?
But identity migration is different. The rate of change and the effects of that change increase the impact of dynamic vs static identity. And this process will not repeat once the generations change over again - this is a unique, one-time event.?
Identity migration is not a cycle, but a fulcrum that demonstrates itself symptomatically as a result locked in time as our pathway into digital deepens.