The unknown citizen is given the number JS/07 M378, the precise significance of which is unclear. However, that's not what's important here⁠—what matters is the fact that the unknown citizen has been given a number at all. It's instructive that we don't know the unknown citizen by name; we only know him by the number given to him by the state. That tells you everything you need to know about the kind of society in which he lived.

This is a society where everyone is controlled, studied, and manipulated by the state as part of a gigantic experiment in social engineering. People aren't seen as individuals to be valued and respected in their own right. On the contrary, they're looked upon as little more than objects to be exploited by the state, their employers, and advertising agencies looking to sell them the latest gadgets.

In other words, the unknown citizen, like everyone else in this society, has no identity except the one constructed for him by powerful groups for their own benefit. His only being remembered by his official number is thus very appropriate.