How do we know who to trust?
When we choose to trust, what limits do we place on that trust?
When that trust is broken, what do we do about it?
I've been thinking a lot lately about human interaction and the topic of trust is one that I keep coming back to. The human model for trust is really intriguing. I'm certainly not a professional in this area so bear with my amateur wanderings.
In the US, we trust strangers everyday with a variety of very important things. We trust public transportation operators to deliver us safely to our destination. We trust medical staff with our bodies and state of our health. We trust individuals to take care of our babies while we work. We trust educators to teach our children. We trust individuals we enter into relationships with on many levels. All these varying degrees of trust have different consequences on the line if the trust is betrayed. Most, if not all of them are life changing. Given that, how do you choose who to trust? How do you know you can trust them?
In some cases, we have constructed institutions to help with trust. Medical associations help us trust physicians and hospitals. The Food and Drug Administration helps us trust our food quality and drug safety. Things like the sexual offender registration help us navigate the tricky questions of who to trust or not trust in our neighborhoods. Why do we trust these institutions? What do we do when they break that trust? (/cough, financial sector; S&P, Moody's, /cough)
We seem to be having a trust-based crisis at the moment. I have some further thoughts about this, but I would really like to get your feedback on trust in general and how you approach it.
How do you give it, in what ways, to whom, and for how long?
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