What is the nature of trust?

An eminently interesting question.

Trust can be said to be given on a very basic level in every interaction in our very social society. Most of the time it is given freely to a certain degree and would sometimes be viewed as a basic human right. That is perhaps a glorified way to say that one can't be bothered to be cautious to give another person trust in a basic level in everyday interaction.

Most trust on a basic level would not constitute great harm to Self should it be betrayed and is therefore acceptable to the desensitized Human Nature. Perhaps in the baser side of the Human Nature, one might even admire such betrayal to a certain degree as usually the betrayer achieve some Gain to Self in the betrayal. However as the Risk to Self becomes greater, the issue of trust becomes more important. Trust then will have to be earned and sometimes at great Cost to Self for greater Gain.

Most endeavors of Man require trust between their fellows to achieve Gain which forces Man to reluctantly re-evaluate his/her criteria of Cost and Gain to Self. As the Human Race is a very social species, such re-evaluation occurs on a regular basis which leads to some people losing and others gaining to varying degree. Therein lies the clashes in our gloriously bloody history.

To trust means a Risk to Self and that does not come cheaply when the Risk is great. Dire is the consequences should the trust be betrayed as the darker side of the Human Nature comes to the fore.

So in essence, trust can be said to be the result of the evaluation of Gain greater than Risk to Self.

By Lost Musing

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