The issuing of a certificate, in the form of a documentary label attached to an individual or an entity, is as much an indication of the self-interest of the issuing authority as a benefit to the recipient. In all cases, the certification authority promotes the merits of their process in order to establish their relevance and continuity. An educational authority issues certificates which must be generally accepted as being reliable indicators or else face the prospect of oblivion. A trustworthy certificate of airworthiness promotes the existence of the issuing authority as well as supposedly inspiring confidence in any prospective aviators. Religious authorities which evaluate as true such statements as...this book is the word of god...rely for their continued existence on innumerable humans who are prepared to accept that certification without question. Even the beaurocratic state authorities which issue birth and death certificates do so for their own benefit rather than those of the individuals. The certificates are only useful to the individual in order to conform to the range of control regulations imposed by the state.

The certification process, official or otherwise, is a continuous and relentless promotional strategy. Factual status is readily conferred on statements like...the kite flight met all design specifications...by self-interested kite manufacturing companies. The delusional assertion that god created man, is recertified as a fact at every opportunity by the franchise agents of their hypothetic god. They then fly the kite proudly in a virtual space above their ecclesiastic structures, where it is supported by the thermal updrafts of joyous praise. The certification by numerous physical science academies of the assertion that...the speed of light is constant...has induced it to be entertained in many minds as an encapsulated certainty. May there be no shortage of skeptics wanting target shooting practice. May experimentation continue with new and creative projectile designs.

The enduring problem with certificates is their credibility. Forging certificates is a widely favoured form of deception. The unpalatable reality is that a substantial proportion of certificates are not worth the time and effort involved in acquiring them.