Clique Space(TM) and the self.

From what I've put here, my Facebook page, and elsewhere, it can be seen that Clique Space defines something that has thus far been a hard concept to pin down: the self.

Anyone (any thing) that wishes to assert the quality of selfness in a Clique Space does so through an Account. Anyone who possesses an account asserts this quality through a Connection to a Client Device and an Affiliation to an Account Profile (some type of group-role representation). The Connection and Affiliation are associated through an Active Affiliation before the Client Device can be used on a Clique Space.

So, what is a self? On a philosophical angle, I don't ultimately know. However, if approached from a pragmatic angle, one might think of it as the origin of one's actions, and that which is ultimately responsible for these actions. In this case, I have a self because I assert this quality to you. Hence, in order for me to do this, I perceive you as another self to whom I assert my quality of selfness. I therefore perceive us as being two distinct selves, and would therefore expect that if you wished to use Clique Space, you would like to have an Account because this is the way one asserts that they are more than just a device to a Clique Space - or more factually, to other selves from a Clique Space.

So, if you want an Account, then you are a self.

Still, what is there to prevent you from having more than one Account? I suppose very little. However, in the "Public" Clique Space, people may want to know that you are who you say you are; that you're not two or more different people at different times (or even simultaneously) whenever it suits you. No one would accept this, and to masquerade as two or more different identities, changing them at your whim would inevitably erode the definition of your self to yourself as well as to others. At least it would to me. Clique Space has a few solutions, but I'll talk about one of my favourites...

Clique Spaces can be federated. In the public Clique Space, anyone can grab any old Account and start generating Client Device activity with it. On the other hand, a proprietary or government administered Clique Space could offer stronger authentication so to guarantee that people who are using it are the people that the government or proprietary organisation intends.

To offer people a level of assurance that I am who you say I am, I might Connect a Client Device to two Clique Spaces: the public Clique Space that everyone uses (a place that might not have strong authentication mechanisms - unless one is willing to pay for them) and to a Clique Space administered by an Australian federal government authority. Obviously, I would obtain these Connections under the same Account.

This Australian Government Clique Space would be a federated neighbour of the public Clique Space, and anyone on the public Clique Space might be able to see that my devices were also logged on to the Australian one, so people could see that my identity was endorsed by the Australian government. I would perhaps be providing my Australian citizenship to others as an endorsement of the Connections to Client Devices I possessed on the public Clique Space. I, for one, like this idea.

I also like the idea of remote authentication and "Connection Limbo". A device (a Client Device) cannot be seen by other users on Clique Space unless the Connection has been Activated. One Activates a connection by associating the Connection with an Affiliation in the process described at the start of this blog entry. A Client Device that has an inactive Connection is in a kind of a limbo state.

Now, a device that is in a limbo state might not authenticate directly. The Clique Space within which a Connection has been obtained might instead, notify another Client Device that the Account holder can authenticate against, and request that the Account holder validate their credentials on this Client Device to authenticate the Connection of the first Client Device. If authentication succeeds on this other Client Device, the first Client Device's connection is Activated along with the appropriate Affiliation. If authentication fails, the first Client Device is disconnected from the Clique Space. Now, there might be a single device through which authentication might be given, and hence, a single and hence simple way to authenticate every Connection to a Clique Space for any Account holder.

Even Connections may not have to be requested by a Client Device. A user could instruct a Clique Space to issue a Connection to a device, and this device might respond in any way it is programmed to respond to Connections from Clique Spaces.