A Crowd of One by John Clippinger

Author:John Clippinger [Clippinger, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Published: 2007-08-04T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Prospects for

Digital Trust

ONE THE MOST REMARKABLE QUALITIES OF FLORENTINE BANKERS during the Renaissance was their ability to secure a transaction with a handshake. Prior to the Renaissance, there really was no functioning banking system. Corruption and violence were so rampant that merchants and business members only trusted family members and those with whom they had a history of dealings. But after the fourteenth century, Florentine and Venetian bankers were financing projects around Europe and the Mediterranean. There was a trust explosion.

Trust is often treated as an individual quality or value. One routinely says, “That person is ‘trustworthy’”—without mention of the conditions under which a person is trustworthy or why one thinks so. The position taken here is that trust is a consequence of how relationships in social networks are managed by members of the network. In this sense, trust is not so much an intangible personal virtue as a group property, the consequence of social emotions such as empathy, reciprocity, and the capacity of the group to recognize and sanction those who are not trustworthy. Because trust is a combination of individual and group skills for managing risk, it should be replicable and scalable.

The United States Marines manual offers the following definition of trust:

Trust is the cornerstone of cooperation. It is a function of familiarity and respect. A senior trusts subordinates to carry out the assigned missions completely with minimal supervision, act in consonance with the overall intent, report developments as necessary, and effect the necessary coordination. Subordinates meanwhile trust that the senior will provide the necessary guidance and will support them loyally and fully, even when they make mistakes. . . . Trust has a reverse side: it must be earned as well as given. We earn the trust of others by demonstrating competence, a sense of responsibility, loyalty, and self-discipline.1

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