This machine-made doppelganger—or perhaps we should call it a digital golem since it is cobbled together from bits of inanimate data—is not made by us. It is made by exterior perceptions, interpretations, and predictions about us. In this way, it has a great deal in common with a human doppelganger: a person whom the world confuses with you but who is not actually you and yet can impact your life in profound ways.

DEFINE: Introduces the concept of a digital doppelganger/golem built from external data instead of self-directed creation. FICTION: The digital golem framing offers rich story potential around identity stolen or refracted by algorithmic doppelgangers.

Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, loc. 273