In computer science, a Black Box is a unit of software or hardware that interacts (with the system that it is embedded in) entirely through its interface. The details of its implementation are obscure. More broadly, a black box is a device that can be viewed in terms of input and output, without any knowledge of its conversion mechanism. What happens inside it is opaque; veiled in shadow. Nevertheless, imperfect or partial understanding of a black box may not affect one’s ability to make some use of it, or to observe its effects in the real world. Alienation obtains where such a gap in comprehension is identified and then accepted as the cost of doing business. When agency and social space (tangible life goods) are premised upon traffic with the mysterious functionality of black boxes, trust is at issue.