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Comment by bawana | Hacker News Reader

There is no such thing as trust anymore at our level of information and 'evil' density. Yes 'evil density' meaning the amount of unemployed outsiders working from a different mission statement than their target. Trust is a relic of small communities and shared goals. As we break down barriers, go global, increase information density - we tempt fate by assuming all new members will function honestly. Or that established members will remain honest

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The dynamics of trust in large communities is indeed interesting. I found an interactive explanation about how fragile it can be. http://ncase.me/trust/

It's a good thing that we've long found something better than blind trust then: the rule of law.

Trusting the lawmakers, and elected / appointed agents in general, to do the right thing is another interesting problem. It does not seem completely solved yet, too.

"Law and order" might arguably about trusting such agents; but rule of law is more the opposite. It's about putting those agents in a situation where they tend to enforce rules that they cannot easily manipulate.

You are right that is a hard thing to do, and no society has ever done it perfectly. But western democracies do it surprisingly well, and do so using a playbook of principles that has been understood and written about since the 18th century.

Hmmm, interesting perspective.

Having worked on election integrity, I eventually figured out that fraud and error are indistinguishable, so I should focus on mitigating errors.

If you think that "evil density" -- even by your rather peculiar definition is greater now than in the past. Then you need to read some history.

A good start might be The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. But really almost anything will do.

I'm included to agree but, I have no idea what you mean by "unemployed".

“Unemployed”?

I imagine s/unemployed/not employed by the target

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