personal device must learn from the conditioning mechanisms of theatre. This is truly the bleeding edge of system development. We can allude to the desired results, but the specific mechanisms are certainly fuzzy in their conceptualization. Perhaps we can provide slightly more solid ground by considering a more concrete and current example.

Consider one aspect of the interaction environments that people encounter throughout their daily activities, that of advertising. Advertising is one of the most dynamic art forms found in the modern world. Its purpose in all of its many guises is to impact the state of consciousness of the receiver; more specifically, to induce an altered state of consciousness that is conducive to the conveyance of trust. Through this facility, advertising seeks to elicit action stimuli from across the full range of the needs hierarchy. Interestingly enough, the more basic the need evoked, the stronger the impetus for action. Hence, we can see the rationale behind the homily that says, “Sex sells!” If a stimulus for action at the level of physiological needs can be externally induced within a person, then the content related to sating the appetite presented by that particular need becomes of higher value to the person. Hence, beautiful women and strong, virile men make excellent advocates for the acquisition of everything from toothpaste to automobiles. So, what does this have to do with the transcendent personal device?

In the establishment of individual interaction opportunities, the device must be able to offer objective assessment in the establishment of trust. Thus, we perceive a need for the device to participate in the identification, evaluation and reaction to aspects of interactions that constitute advertising. The suggestion is not for an advertising filter, because in some instances advertising can be a useful information source to the individual. What we view as a useful service on the part of the device is to recognize and, where possible, to negotiate some aspects of the de facto transaction that advertising comprises. Indeed, much of the current content on the Web is acquired through a consideration offered for consideration received transaction. “I will show you the current and forecasted weather conditions in exchange for you watching or reading this automobile advertisement.” The forms of significant amounts of media based interactions have been totally transformed by the asymmetric nature of this transaction. The transcendent personal device offers the prospect of establishing both individual as well as group based responses to shift this balance. Thus, the aesthetic facilities of the transcendent personal device can be anticipated to participate directly in the operation of the trust infrastructures of cyberspace.

The anticipated functions of the transcendent personal device could certainly be added to existing personal electronic devices, but its operational orientation would be somewhat different from current systems. If we anticipate that the transcendent personal device will function continuously over long periods of time, then the architecture, design and implementation of its contained software systems will be systematically different from many of today’s personal electronic devices.

Current personal electronic devices offer a rather thorough illustration of choices available for external form factors of the transcendent personal device. An area that’s a bit less clear is the form factor choices for the trusted core agent of the transcendent personal device. Does it actually need to look like today’s secure cores, for example a card, a key fob or a token? From an ergonomics perspective, it might be interesting to think of the trusted core agent as an arming device for the transcendent personal device. As such, it might be attractive to more easily attach the trusted core agent to the body, and perhaps to allow an interlock of some type that allows the body to coordinate the removal of the trusted core. We can readily understand the utility of such a capability in that it would act to control the tearing that we discussed a couple of chapters back.

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