The extension of a pure identification system to provide the more general transaction basis of a widespread social ecosystem requires implementation of the concept of reputation derived from experiential identity and that of authority granted to differential identity. Authentication of differential identity gives some level of assurance that this is Jane Doe. Reputation born of experiential identity then tells us that this would then be THE Jane Doe that owns the checking account #4179456. Authority granted to differential identity in deference to experiential identity tells us that Jane Doe can write a check for $37.44 against this account because she has previously deposited at least that amount of currency into the account. Thus, we see the connection between two episodes of experiential identity; depositing currency into an account and withdrawing currency from that account.

While the trust establishment components of the human mind are yet merely qualitatively understood, in the digital world, there are more quantitative models of evaluation of uncertain situations. One expects the transcendent personal device to embody such probabilistic networks to assign a level of trust to both the uniqueness of an identity and the strength of the authentication process that established it. These evaluation networks can be based on quantifiable data, for example the number of biometric measures being applied, and the discriminatory nature of the identity features being established. Additionally, much like a safe or an armored vehicle, a secure core is designed to prevent entry by an attacker. Entry, in this case, is the ability of an external agent to gain access to the computer that forms the heart of the secure core. The trust in the secure core itself should be well established through the causality of design and the trusted process of manufacture.

We can build the desired differential identification system using the transcendent personal device. As a basis for conceptual illustration, consider its hypothetical incarnation to be a device much like a standard GSM cellular telephone. Such phones already encompass the two sub-systems architecture described in Chapter 9, namely a device body and a secure core agent. We will assume that the device includes a high-resolution digital camera, as many cellular phones do, and we’ll assume a sensory extension through the addition of a fingerprint pad. Thus, the device can be used to establish differential identity of an individual person through the detection of an iris pattern and one or more fingerprints. This is virtually congruent with the current biometry requirements for many state driver licenses. For example, the State of Texas requires a facial photograph and two thumbprints.

For identification systems on which we base historical grouping mechanisms, within the mind of the individual person the differential identity enrollment process essentially begins at birth, as we discussed in Chapter 8. Physiologically based information and subsequent authentication mechanisms that make use of this information comprise the early bonding between infant and parent, most typically the mother, or with some other primary caregiver in the absence of one or more parents. At the earliest age, the markers for differential identity are biometric characteristics of a person; facial features, characteristics of a voice, odors, tactile presentation and combinations of all of these. For a time as infants, we only make the association of marker with person as an internal cognitive function. We can identity a person and perhaps make known our act of authentication through externally visible emotional responses, but we don’t yet have a way to reference our internally derived marker with some symbolic reference that we can convey externally. In our earliest stage of infancy, we might recognize our mother, and smile accordingly, but we don’t yet have a symbolic reference through which we can convey our association to another person. It is always a noteworthy event when a baby first learns to say “Mama!”

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