In Code We Trust
October 8th and 9th 2018

One explanation for putting so much trust in tech, is the high expectations people have about future technological breakthroughs. There’s so much that remains to be desired: from self-driving cars to frictionless shopping experiences. But will technology be able to live up to those expectations or are we in for a massive disillusion?

Trust is defined as a confident relationship with the unknown. But we’re far from comfortable looking at the unknown future. We clearly see how trust is shifting from the institutional hierarchies towards the network economy.

Every organization is at risk of being disrupted by a more trusted version of itself. Organizations like Tripadvisor, Amazon and Airbnb are using reviews and ratings to organize our trust.

But at the same time, they are so successful at monetizing their platforms, that trust is becoming a monopoly. Can we trust markets where so much power is in the hand of just a few companies?

And while trust is steadily shifting, our perception of what is real and what is not continues to be disrupted. Facebook, Twitter and Google have primarily based their business models on advertising. These so-called attention merchants are massively publishing clickbait content and fake news to draw us in. Can we really put our trust in their code organizing our lives while losing grip on the truth?

So we should reconsider how to organize trust in a sustainable manner. Can we distribute trust in technology-based solutions such as the token economy, autonomous intelligent systems and self-organizing platforms? Are we trust-ready for the next digital waves, for instance in biotechnology? What are our options really and what should we take into consideration before we decide who and what to trust?