---
_id: '49469'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: 'Today, it is possible to collect and connect large amounts of digital data
    from various sources and life domains. This chapter examines the potential and
    the risks of this development from an interdisciplinary perspective. It defines
    the ‘global digital twin’ of a human being as the sum of all digitally stored
    information and predictive knowledge about a person. It points out that, compared
    to the digital twin of a machine, the human global digital twin is far more complex
    because it comprises the genetic code and the biographic code of a person. The
    genetic code contains not only a simple ‘construction plan’ but also hereditary
    information, in a form that is difficult to read. The biographic code contains
    all other information that can be assembled about a person, which is obtained
    via data from cameras, microphones, or other sensors, as well as general personal
    information. When the growing wealth of information concerning the genetic code
    and the biographical code is properly utilised, insights from biology and the
    behavioural sciences may be used to predict personal events such as health problems,
    job resignations, or even crimes. Because our own interests and those of private
    firms are partly in conflict over the use of this powerful knowledge, it is still
    unclear whether the global digital twins of humans will become a liberating or
    disciplining force for citizens. On the one hand, human beings are not machines:
    They are aware of their digital twin and therefore are able to influence it throughout
    their lives. Because of their free will, human beings are in general difficult
    to predict. Dystopias of full control over individual behaviour are therefore
    unlikely to materialise. On the other hand, private firms are beginning to take
    advantage of the available digital twins of humans by monopolising data access
    and by commercialising predictive knowledge. This is problematic because, unlike
    machines, human beings cannot only benefit from but also suffer due to their digital
    twins as they attempt to shape their own lives. We illustrate these issues with
    some examples and arrive at two conclusions: It is in the public interest for
    people to be granted more property rights over their personal global digital twins,
    and publicly funded research needs to become more interdisciplinary, much like
    private firms that have already begun to perform interdisciplinary research.'
author:
- first_name: Talea Davina
  full_name: Hellweg, Talea Davina
  id: '45592'
  last_name: Hellweg
  orcid: 0000-0002-3868-6568
- first_name: Martin
  full_name: Schneider, Martin
  id: '471'
  last_name: Schneider
  orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6961-3716
- first_name: Ulrich
  full_name: Rückert, Ulrich
  last_name: Rückert
- first_name: Christian
  full_name: Harteis, Christian
  last_name: Harteis
- first_name: Sarah
  full_name: Pilz, Sarah
  last_name: Pilz
citation:
  ama: 'Hellweg TD, Schneider M, Rückert U, Harteis C, Pilz S. Who Will Own Our Global
    Digital Twin: The Power of Genetic and Biographic Information to Shape Our Lives.
    In: <i>The Digital Twin of Human</i>. ; 2023.'
  apa: 'Hellweg, T. D., Schneider, M., Rückert, U., Harteis, C., &#38; Pilz, S. (2023).
    Who Will Own Our Global Digital Twin: The Power of Genetic and Biographic Information
    to Shape Our Lives. In <i>The Digital Twin of Human</i>.'
  bibtex: '@inbook{Hellweg_Schneider_Rückert_Harteis_Pilz_2023, title={Who Will Own
    Our Global Digital Twin: The Power of Genetic and Biographic Information to Shape
    Our Lives}, booktitle={The Digital Twin of Human}, author={Hellweg, Talea Davina
    and Schneider, Martin and Rückert, Ulrich and Harteis, Christian and Pilz, Sarah},
    year={2023} }'
  chicago: 'Hellweg, Talea Davina, Martin Schneider, Ulrich Rückert, Christian Harteis,
    and Sarah Pilz. “Who Will Own Our Global Digital Twin: The Power of Genetic and
    Biographic Information to Shape Our Lives.” In <i>The Digital Twin of Human</i>,
    2023.'
  ieee: 'T. D. Hellweg, M. Schneider, U. Rückert, C. Harteis, and S. Pilz, “Who Will
    Own Our Global Digital Twin: The Power of Genetic and Biographic Information to
    Shape Our Lives,” in <i>The Digital Twin of Human</i>, 2023.'
  mla: 'Hellweg, Talea Davina, et al. “Who Will Own Our Global Digital Twin: The Power
    of Genetic and Biographic Information to Shape Our Lives.” <i>The Digital Twin
    of Human</i>, 2023.'
  short: 'T.D. Hellweg, M. Schneider, U. Rückert, C. Harteis, S. Pilz, in: The Digital
    Twin of Human, 2023.'
date_created: 2023-12-04T13:48:41Z
date_updated: 2023-12-04T13:49:15Z
department:
- _id: '19'
- _id: '185'
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- url: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-26104-6_2
publication: The Digital Twin of Human
publication_status: published
status: public
title: 'Who Will Own Our Global Digital Twin: The Power of Genetic and Biographic
  Information to Shape Our Lives'
type: book_chapter
user_id: '54657'
year: '2023'
...