Ownership: The extended self and the extended object

Abstract

This chapter updates our notions of ownership in several ways. It notes changes in traditional ownership with the dematerialization of possessions with digitization of books, newspapers, films, letters, and music. It also considers how the rise of the sharing economy affects ownership. It considers who and what may be owned and by whom or what in the case of slaves, AI, the IoT, and humanoid robots. It considers military and ethical considerations that arise with battlefield robots and drones. It introduces decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs); it considers human-robot relations, including sexual relations; and it discusses robot rights. Finally, it considers how such factors affect the extended self and offers a counterpart in the extended object.