Citations & References
Tracey Follows | Philosophy × Technology × Futurology
A selected collection of academic citations, intellectual references, endorsements, reviews and institutional recognition of the work of Tracey Follows, futurist, author of The Future of You, and creator of System & Self™ and Me®.
Her work explores the future of identity, human agency, artificial intelligence and selfhood in an increasingly technological world.
Academic Citations & Research
Alexander Amigud | Philosophy & Technology, Springer Nature (2024)
The Age of the Intelligent Machine: Singularity, Efficiency, and Existential Peril
Amigud cites The Future of You: Can Your Identity Survive 21st-Century Technology? (2021) in a peer-reviewed philosophical examination of AI, authenticity, human relationships and changing moral values.
Danielle Lim | OCAD University, Canada (2022)
Cutting Across: Identities and Digital Marketing
A postgraduate research project in Strategic Foresight and Innovation referencing The Future of You in its examination of digital identity, identity construction, multiple personas and the commercialisation of the self.
Intellectual References & Endorsements
Andrew McLuhan | Identity and Consciousness (2026)
Media theorist Andrew McLuhan references Tracey Follows and The Future of You in a discussion of identity, consciousness and what differentiates human beings. He highlights the importance and fragility of individual identity, and its relative absence from wider technological debates.
Watch on The Future of You YouTube channel
Chris Perry | Perspective Agents (2024)
In Perspective Agents: A Human Guide to the Autonomous Age, Chris Perry features a contribution from Tracey Follows alongside endorsements from leading thinkers in media, technology and social change.
Chris Perry | Boxes and Nodes (2026)
In his essay Boxes and Nodes, Perry identifies Tracey Follows' concept of the Database Brand as a significant development in understanding how AI changes the relationship between brands, identity and information systems. He places her thinking alongside that of Douglas Rushkoff, Andrew McLuhan and Claire Wardle.
Alicia McKay | Let 'em cook: The Looming Crisis of Human Judgment (2026)
New Zealand strategist Alicia McKay draws directly on Tracey Follows' distinction between the machinable and unmachinable self, quoting her contribution to research on human resilience in the AI age. McKay uses the distinction to examine the human capabilities at risk when judgement is routinely outsourced to machines.
Professor Michael Wooldridge | University of Oxford (2021)
Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford and author of The Road to Conscious Machines, Michael Wooldridge endorsed The Future of You, describing it as an exploration of how emerging technologies might affect personal identity and personhood.
He called the book an “intriguing, thought-provoking, and occasionally disturbing picture.”
Research & Institutional Recognition
Elon University | Imagining the Digital Future Center (2026)
Building a Human Resilience Infrastructure for the Age of AI
The Imagining the Digital Future Center's international research report features Tracey Follows' concept of Me and her distinction between the machinable and unmachinable dimensions of human identity.
The report draws on her argument that human resilience depends on sustaining judgement, imagination, ethical reasoning and agency within increasingly automated systems.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology | MIT News (2026)
Sherry Turkle on Artificial Intimacy | Me Dialogues
MIT News featured Tracey Follows' conversation with MIT Professor Sherry Turkle, discussing artificial intimacy, AI companionship and the consequences of human relationships with machines.
The interview was featured in MIT's In the Media coverage on 1 October 2026.
CLA 3.5 | Causal Layered Analysis Research Collection
Disrupting Identity: Applying CLA to the Ongoing Digitization of the Self
Tracey Follows' research essay, originally published in the Journal of Futures Studies, is reproduced in CLA 3.5: The Online Source, a specialist collection devoted to Causal Layered Analysis research and practice.
The essay examines digital identity through the layers of CLA, exploring how technological change reshapes the stories, assumptions and systems through which individuals understand themselves.
Explore the CLA 3.5 collection
Selected Reviews & Editorial Features
Bronwyn Williams | The Money Show, South Africa (2025)
Book Review: The Future of You
Futurist and Flux Trends strategist Bronwyn Williams reviewed The Future of You with Stephen Grootes on The Money Show.
Their discussion explored the changing nature of personal identity, digital surveillance, biometrics, AI and the implications of increasingly virtual relationships.
Read the review and listen to the discussion
Ian Khan | The Future of You: A Provocative Look at Digital Identity in the Age of AI
Futurist and author Ian Khan reviewed The Future of You, examining its arguments about digital identity, AI, decentralisation, personal autonomy and the relationship between technological change and human identity.
His review recommends the book to technology leaders, strategists and readers interested in the future of the self.
Baillie Gifford | Trust Magazine (2021)
Author Interview: Tracey Follows
In a substantial feature for Baillie Gifford's Trust magazine, Pádraig Belton explores the arguments of The Future of You, including self-sovereign digital identity, individual control over personal information and the future of identity in an increasingly digitised society.
Read the Trust magazine feature
Institution of Engineering and Technology | Engineering & Technology Magazine (2021)
People Are No Longer Constrained by Pre-Digital Parameters
In an extended editorial feature, Nick Smith examines Tracey Follows' arguments about digital identity, individualism, technological change, personal autonomy and the influence of networked media.
The article also discusses her application of Marshall McLuhan's thinking to the relationship between identity loss, social media and conflict.
Published by Engineering & Technology, the magazine of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).
This is a selected and evolving record of references to the books, research, interviews and original concepts of Tracey Follows.