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 Introduction Discussion of the identity of the modern human being tends to be relatively simplistic, requiring little comment. However the extreme dependency resulting from industrialization and development has effectively modified that identity in ways of which there is only a limited degree of recognition. This is an exploration of how the human being has already been effectively transformed into a cyborg through immediate dependence on technology in daily life -- with the technology becoming an extension of that identity. As argued here, using "cyborg"as a cognitive template, similar transformations of identity are associated with human dependence on legislation, finance and medicine -- through which identity is effectively defined. Whilst cyborgs are a theme of imaginative science fiction, possibly characteristic of extraterrestrials (as with reference to the "Borg Collective" of Star Trek fame), the perspective to be explored in what follows is that those imag

  Introduction Much is made of the possibility of being a "part" of community and of society more generally. Hence the many references to "participation". The facilities of social media encourage this in many ways, as do esports. Being part of a family or group is a common aspiration. Nations may well aspire to being a part of the  international community , to whatever degree its nature may be called into question ( International Community as God or Sorcerer's Apprentice?  2015) These examples all suggest that assumptions about the process of being a part of a larger context, as currently understood, are proving adequate to the viability of an increasingly fragmented society. Arguably this is far from being the case. With "whole" as the complement to "part", the viability of wholes of many kinds is widely challenged -- even suspect as totalitarian, manipulative or otherwise. This may well translate into the problematic experience of a person,