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Comment by bitwize | Hacker News Reader

A plural system is multiple identities or personalities in one body/mind. Plural systems are increasingly demanding to be recognized and respected as such -- and companies are starting to comply. Much like trans and nonbinary identity, plurality is an aspect of identity we're all going to have to deal with now.

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Genuine question: How do you differentiate this from full-blown mental illness? Because this sounds 100% like what society traditionally recognizes as schizophrenia/split personality disorder. Or, in more extreme cases & phrased less politely, insanity.

schizophrenia != split personality! I think what you mean is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissociative_identity_disorder.

Does the United States current recognize plural folks as a protected class? Do we even have the infrastructure to recognize them in any meaningful fashion? To extrapolate on that, how much research has gone into understanding the dysphoria that these people experience? Do we have a medical basis of understanding when it comes to how plural systems affect the mind? Do we even know if it's healthy to address plural systems as their individual components?

I apologize in advance if this sound antagonistic, but putting plural identities on the same levels as queer and trans ones seems... a little premature, if you ask me.

you don’t just decide to be plural, it’s caused by mental illness. acting like multiple people is not being plural.

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