Berkman Center for Internet & Society Current Topic Lecture Hall
Change Password Forgot Password  Trust, Precarious Treasure by
Trudy Govier  The human capacity for trust is amazing. When we
trust, we move from limited evidence to expectations and actions
culminating in a complex web of emotions, beliefs, and
attitudes. Those attitudes structure our interpretations of
other people, situations, and human nature as such. Despite the
vicissitudes of our sometimes fractured social order, most of us
maintain considerable trust much of the time. Overall, we have
positive expectations about what other people will do; we are
open to other people, and feel a basic confidence and security
about how the world works. We count on other people fearlessly
and confidently; we allow ourselves to depend on other people,
often other people whom we know not at all. To a far greater
extent than we normally realize, trust is implicit in our daily
lives and our social world. Most of the time it does not betray
us.  Human institutio