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threats to the social order of groups of people and to the individuals within the social groups. In a like manner, a central aspect of the extrapolation of these social systems in computers and their networks is the amelioration of threats within these expanded environments. Thus, the primary themes of the phases we want to consider are the means by which threats are identified and addressed while at the same time providing effective participation in all the interactions that present themselves.

The three phases present our assessment of the chronological progression of the capabilities of secure core computer systems from their earliest inception into the relatively near future. This covers a time period that ranges from perhaps two decades in the past to perhaps three decades into the future; a half-century more or less. The first phase is comprised of the ability of computer systems to manage known attacks, and covers today’s state of the art in secure cores. The second phase provides for answering unknown attacks through established means of defense. This is the phase that we’re just entering and encompasses the transition of secure core systems from auxiliary components of computer applications to peer level computing platforms that can begin to function on behalf of human bearers of the secure core. Finally, the third phase anticipates the creation of new answers to unknown attacks, or, in asymmetric language, defense from the unknown unknowns. This is our extrapolation or projection of the direction that transcendent computing systems might take us if they truly follow parallels to human social evolution. At their most capable, they should function as the fully functional interface of the human into the cyberspace of the Internet; interacting with a variety of systems and guarding against threats, both known and unknown, that might be encountered there. The Internet itself seems on a deployment path that will involve ubiquitous interaction facilities with virtually every system that we encounter on a daily basis ranging from every device in our homes to those in our various transportation systems and everything thereby accessible. Moreover, we will be involved in such interactions from the time of our birth and our societal provisioning via education to our ultimate death.

As should be clear by now, our understanding of the evolution of the cognitive facilities of the species is tightly intertwined with the concepts of symbols and metaphors. Consequently, we will make use of metaphorical allusion as we attempt to offer some insights to future directions. Thus, we will relate each of the three phases to a distinct metaphorical interpretation based on the three forms of theatre noted earlier. However, we need to provide a bit of expanded context; it’s hard to understand the play without a quick perusal of the program. First then, we must consider the title of this section. A theatrical mechanism first popularized in Greek drama, deus ex machina provides the artist with a means to extricate a story from total collapse when it is ultimately painted into too constrained a corner. This extreme form of artistic license allows a Gordian knot of plot contrivances to be slashed with a bold stroke. Notwithstanding aesthetic debates surrounding the use of the practice, the words themselves are just too inviting in the context of our current discussions for us to ignore the opportunity they suggest. As we look toward the evolved future of the computer, are we not seeking to extract something of the deities that we derive from or that form the basis of religion? More specifically, we seek to establish something of the trust that we find within religious systems that is ultimately grounded in the ecstasy of faith.

Setting the Stage

A play is a metaphorical expression of the social ecosystems that we have discussed at some length in the previous chapters. The operational objective of the “play” is to be “performed” within a “theatre” for an “audience”, where each of the quoted terms is capable of metaphorical extension. Performing the play manifests a subordinate social ecosystem created in a trust

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