It thus seems reasonable to summarize the current status of the \(\textbf{P} \neq \textbf{NP}\)? problem as follows: (i) \(\textbf{P} \neq \textbf{NP}\) is widely believed to be true on the basis of convergent inductive and heuristic evidence; (ii) we currently have no reason to suspect that this statement is formally independent of the mathematical theories which we accept in practice; but (iii) a proof \(\textbf{P} \neq \textbf{NP}\) is still considered to be beyond the reach of current techniques.