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Knol

and its trusted core. This provides a communication pathway for the transfer of information in the form of bit-strings between the phone and the SIM. As the communication pathway allows for communication only in one direction at a time, it is called half-duplex in the trade. This channel supports data transfer speeds of up to several hundred thousand bits per second. This input/output channel is the only means for a Subscriber Identity Module computer to communicate with the outside world. The primary mechanism for protecting this channel as it supports communication with the outside is cryptography, the science of making data impenetrable to the unauthorized.

The Subscriber Identity Module contains three types of memories; actually, sometimes four. The first one is called read-only memory. This is memory containing the program that controls the operations of the module. It is written at the factory and cannot be changed without destroying the module, therefore guaranteeing that the module does what it’s supposed to do without alteration. The second one is called random access memory. It is very fast memory used by the central processing unit for its immediate operations. This memory enters into action when the module is powered up, and stops functioning when the computer is powered down. Therefore, all information in it is transient. Information that must be kept alive is stored in permanent memory, of which there are various forms. Like all memories, permanent memory is actually always encrypted to add a layer of information security to the other physical means of protecting the SIM against possible attacks.

Trust is the primary feature of personal electronic devices. Trust must emanate from the operational characteristics of the devices and, consequently, trust must be a salient feature of the device derived from its original manufacture. The Subscriber Identity Module manufacturing process provides an interesting illustration of certain features of a distributed manufacturing process that help to instill trust and trustworthiness into personal electronic devices.

As we’ve noted above, the central feature of the personal electronic device secure processing element is a single, monolithic computer platform constructed as a single integrated circuit chip. While not completely tamper-proof, because that’s impossible, such an element is tamper-resistant because of the difficulty of non-destructive analysis of the chip. Moreover, destructive decomposition of a secure module, which may yield access to the information it contains, is impossible to accomplish without physical possession of the chip. Once the decomposition is completed, it is virtually impossible to make the chip operable again. Consequently, the device offers excellent characteristics of tamper-evident behavior, which in turns allows an integrated system an opportunity to detect the attack on a specific unit and to operationally segregate it from the rest of the system. It can be amputated if you will.

Foundations of Consciousness

Ontogeny (the development of an individual over one generation) recapitulates phylogeny (the development of subsequent individuals across generations). This is the crux of what Ernst Haeckel first suggested in 1866 as the biogenetic law. His thesis was that the embryonic development of an individual passed through the phases of the evolutionary stages of its species. While shown to not be accurate in details, it still offers insight to the complex processes that have emerged through evolutionary development. Actually, the new science of evolutionary developmental psychology, presented by Sean B. Carroll in Endless Forms Most Beautiful, is precisely dedicated to the study of these processes. If one examines the evolution of the social systems of Homo sapiens, a progression can be identified in which the various stages would seem to derive from specific plateaus in the evolutionary development of the species.

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