Our lives increasingly depend on technologies we don't understand. Few of us know how refrigerators, pacemakers, cars or remote controls function yet we rely on these machines for convenience, entertainment and survival. When our machines malfunction, we feel lost and helpless, and perhaps a little hysterical.

Maybe it's our duty to be more self-sufficient. Maybe we're only getting what we deserve when things go awry. But we do try to protect ourselves. Because we know that we can't function without our machines, we take all sorts of precautions to make sure we're as prepared for and protected against failures as we can be.

Until recently, machines were built to endure use, but not necessarily attack. Advances in technology (and changes in political climate?) are compelling us to change how we approach design.