The Algorithmic Self in Dave Eggers' The Circle And Jennifer Egan's The Candy House

Abstract

The emergence of technological systems has transformed human identity and authenticity in the posthuman era. Through the analysis of The Candy House by Jennifer Egan and The Circle by Dave Eggers, the study investigates how digital technology has transformed identity from being autonomous and subjective to something objective and data-driven. The research employs qualitative textual analysis through the posthumanist theoretical lenses of Katherine Hayles and Cary Wolfe to explore how AI, algorithms and other digital networks construct the algorithmic self. Although several studies have examined identity, authenticity, artificial intelligence and digital surveillance in The Candy House and The Circle individually, very limited research has analyzed the novels together to examine the construction of the  algorithmic self. The analysis reveals that technological systems convert memories and identity into quantifiable data that can be fragmented, recorded and shared in ways that challenges the traditional idea of a stable and authentic self. The findings demonstrate that in The Circle the company ideology of transparency and continuous surveillance transforms human identity into data eroding privacy and human agency. Similarly, The Candy House depicts memory sharing technology as destabilizing the boundaries between authentic personal experience and digital data driven consciousness. The research concludes that technological systems and algorithms have reconstructed human identity into measureable digitally mediated data, challenging the conventional notion of autonomy, identity and authenticity.