1. To live is to orient oneself in the world. A philosophy of orientation reflects on this life.
2. Identity provides a “steady foothold” of orientation: It enables us, individually and collectively, to recognize and relate to one another.
3. A philosophy of orientation considers identity a “problem:” It is not given naturally, but must be constructed under shifting conditions of social, intellectual, and biological evolution.
4. Three major identity technologies rely on a) orientation to social roles (sincerity), b) orientation to an inner self (authenticity), and c) orientation to profiles (profilicity).
5. Profiles emerge in social validation feedback loops of “second-order observation:” They are seen as being seen by a “general peer” (think of the “picturesque,” or financial markets, or brands).
6.  In today’s society, “we no longer need to know what the world is like once we know how it is being observed and once we are capable of orienting ourselves in the realm of second-order observation.” (Niklas Luhmann). This is profilicity.
7. The digital world enables orientation to the general peer and profile curation through algorithmic feedback loops, (self-) surveillance based on AI, and big data.
8. The digital world is the mirror of profilicity: It tells us (individuals and organizations) who we are by letting us see how we, and others, are being seen.

Digitization is not the cause of profilicity. Instead, digitization took off the way it did because it enhances orientation and identity curation in profilicity