Administrative systems have the general capability to enforce the consequences of interactions prior to the occurrence of the interaction proper. Such systems typically make use of credentials issued to persons that attest to their having achieved some status allowing them to participate in certain types of interactions. Probably the simplest example is the driver license, a credential issued by the state that attests to a person having demonstrated an acceptable level of competence to operate a motor vehicle. More complex examples entail the issuance of credentials that allow their bearers to practice law, practice medicine, or to be a certified engineer trusted in the construction of buildings, bridges and the like. The operators of heavy trucks require a credential as do the pilots of commercial and private aircraft. In all of these administrative systems, an infrastructure is put in place allowing a person to be tested for competence in some area and to have a credential issued when this faculty is demonstrated.

Lest administrators be underestimated, we should make at least passing reference to perhaps the most powerful single administrative facility within the United States Government, the Internal Revenue Service. This agency has extraordinary power to deal with the enforcement of tax law. The Supreme Court has generally held that this unique power is well grounded within the Constitution. The general interpretation is that a state has the ultimate right to survive, an interesting example of multi-level selection. The ability to levy and collect taxes is a central feature of survival. Consequently, this ability on the part of the federal government will actually trump many conflicting rights held by individuals.

Evolution of a Basic Social Ecosystem

A simple metaphor allowed the emergence of the salient characteristics of the World Wide Web. Based on our earlier consideration of petitionary prayer, we suggest that the metaphor is well illustrated by the statement:

Grant me this.

Interpreted either as a humble supplication or as a command imperative, this sentence forms an iconic example of deictic discourse. It appears deceptively simple and hence acceptably supported by the current incarnation of the Web. However, its interpretation becomes considerably more involved when at least some of the additional inferred elements are made explicit:

(You) (please) grant (to) me this (content) (here or where) (now or when) (since I need it because…) (and I am allowed to have it because…) (and you are allowed to give it to me because…) (and we will exchange consideration according to our negotiated basis of commerce) (and conclude our interaction according to the covenant relationship under which it is conducted).

When considered in its full semantic guise as a formally posed transaction, the seemingly simple supplication or imperative gives way to a complex interaction within a well-defined social ecosystem. We suggest that its full derivation arises from the concept of prayer, pursued through a structured protocol with a recursive reference to an overarching covenant relationship. Delving just a bit into a more detailed parsing, consider the expansion of the personal pronouns. “You” can refer to another person, an inanimate individual entity, a group or even a deity. “Me” refers to the speaker, but this could take any of the forms that “you” might take. “This” is a direct, metaphorical indicator establishing reference to some content whose identity can be established within the social ecosystem. It is resolved through a selection vector which leads from the speaker

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