rather than cause it. This presupposes that change itself can take on a rather arbitrary guise that may or may not be directly applicable to a given environment. One change mechanism springs from reproduction, for which Gregor Mendel established a model of two laws related to the propagation, or inheritance, of characteristics. One is called the law of segregation, which formulates the concept of dominant and recessive properties as the mechanism for variance in the progeny of a single set of parents. The other is called the law of independent assortment, which suggests that there are in fact characteristics of a species that may be inherited independently; for example, a human’s hair and eye colors. Other change mechanisms such as mutation (with environment as a judge) and epigenetic inheritance (with environment as a cause) would in time add to the picture.

Thus was established a conceptual model for the evolutionary progression of organic species. What was missing was a detailed understanding of the mechanisms involved in this progression. In particular, missing was knowledge of the DNA molecule and the manner in which its facilities for replication form a basis for passing characteristics of the entities of a species from one generation to the next. The discovery of this facility awaited the work of Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin, James Watson and others, in the middle of the XX^th Century. The DNA molecule provides both history and blueprint, but mostly blueprint that provides a statement of design and construction for living cells. DNA possesses the elements of language, and of documents written in that language, that we will later view as central to the creation of social order. Thus, we begin to perceive a possible parallel between biological and social systems. We’ll delve into a discussion of the biology involved in all this in the next chapter, as certain characteristics of the DNA molecule itself and of its process for replication bring some clarity to such a parallel.

From our consideration of Charles Darwin’s formulation of the theory of evolution in the XIX^th Century, we gained some of the impetus to write this book. Whereas Darwin observed nature and questioned its purposes and procedures, we so question technology. Through our quest we recognize the need to question nature again. Our goal has been to understand the evolution of computer systems within the context of their use by and interaction with the human population, both collectively and as individuals, as well as within the context of their own interactions. Our observation is that religion more than any other characteristic trait specifically mirrors this goal. So, this quest has led us to consider the evolutionary roots of religion and then, starting from these roots go to the core of the most intimate computers to find the spiritual in the silicon.

By the year 2000, the career progression of both of this book’s authors had reached those esoteric nether regions that seem to exist in every industry where a small circle of specialists from an ostensibly common business domain are able to debate the future and to consider the path best followed for that domain to flourish. The discussions flourished in a variety of venues such as collaborative system development efforts, technical specification consortia and standards making bodies. Sometimes such consideration is effective in providing guidance, but sometimes not. In any case, a common understanding of the challenges ahead sets a landscape where, hopefully, future directions will be compatible enough such that the domain itself will not vanish under useless internecine strife that doesn’t produce any material benefits to the industry collective. Often, the most interesting discussions center on defining what the industry is really about. In our particular situation, during the mid-to-late 1990’s, it became increasingly apparent that an emergent species of the computer family, a variant we term the personal electronic device, was becoming the ultimate carrier of personal identity in the digital world. Each device has the ability to contain the critical, private personal information that was needed to access any service with flexibility, such that the secure core of the device can actually control what is, for all practical purposes, how the rest of the world sees the person through the prism of electronic networks. Our

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