c8400.com_ about c8400about c8400 (text)c8400 is a number in hexadecimal format. my number. the number i am. i am many numbers given to me by different institutions. and then there are all the logins and nicks to miscellaneous networks and accounts of the web.each of us is given many different names and numbers through his life. c8400 derives from the first number i got, together with my name, the citizen identification number ("birth number") which i had to remember very soon after my name. my actual "birth number" has 8 digits and a suffix. the 8 digits stand for my date of birth. the suffix is used to distinguish people born on the same day. in different institutions i am filed under my "birth number", not my name. so this is the my primary identity of towards this institutions. when i contact this institutions (bank, health insurance...) i have to state this number first and it is not until then that i am called by my "real" name. in other words, my "code" has to undergo some kind of transformation to get to my "real" name. to arrive at "c8400" my "birth number" had to undergo a certain transformation as well, although of a different kind. as an online representation of myself i transformed this number to the hexadecimal format, which is often used in the sphere of information technology (colour model, addresses of system ports etc.). the number symbolically represents the uniqueness of each person. there are no to persons having the same number - within the given system. the use of this and other numbers anchors us in our environment. different names/numbers make us attached to different aspects of our reality. c8400 is countering the "humanization/"naturalization"" of information technology. the ongoing trend (and ever-existing) of making technology looking more "human" and "natural" is making people forget the origins and nature of the equipment they use. in this sense, c8400 clearly states what it stands for: it is my code in this given system. i am a human connected to this number. but this code clearly distinguishes this on-line identity as one of my "faces", which is mirroring something from me, but does not represent me as a whole. like the banking system with your account number, the "virtual world" is another system in which we can take part. it is an "upgrade", an opportunity but in no way a substitute to our physical reality. |