The best definition of Trust found on the internet is - Trust is the willingness of one party (the trustor) to become vulnerable to another party (the trustee) on the presumption that the trustee will act in ways that benefit the trustor. In addition, the trustor does not have control over the actions of the trustee.
Philosophers are convinced that society needs trust because it increasingly finds itself operating at the edge between confidence in what is known from everyday experience and contingency of new possibilities. Without trust, one should always consider all contingent possibilities, leading to paralysis by analysis. Trust acts as a decisional heuristic, allowing the decision-maker to overcome bounded rationality and process what would otherwise be an excessively complex situation and hence Trust also acts as an economic lubricant, reducing the cost of transactions between parties, enabling new forms of cooperation, and generally furthering business activities, employment, and prosperity.
There are 2 forms of trust - a. Trust in the society (generalized trust) which as per the research is formed in which an individual forms an opinion of how much to trust others through social & reinforcement learning based on the early experiences, experiences with family members, etc. Research has also shown genes also play a role in generalized trust where some people are more trusting than others. b. Particularized Trust works in more specific situations and relationships. Particularized trust is influenced by the past experiences in a particular relationship/ situation and also the probability of future gains from a particular relationship/ situation.
Trust is key to understanding the dynamics of social relations, to the extent that it is often viewed as the glue that holds society together.
All contemporary models of trust contain (a) a trustor, (b) a trustee, and (c) a trust object. “A trusts B with respect to issue x” , where A is the trustor (the actor placing trust), B is the trustee (the target of trust), and x is the trust object (the domain or activity in which trust is placed. As a rule of thumb, more trust is required between parties when uncertainties increase. Now, with global internet usage penetrating deeper year on year at a rapid pace, the physical distance between A and B is also growing, trust becomes more critical now and in the future when the internet becomes more decentralized and tech like Metaverse evolve.
The Internet has just started. Ecommerce spending as a share of GDP touched 2.3% in 2020. This will only increase with time and with time we will see all sorts of actors on the internet playing bad games. We already hear a lot about people scamming others. The nature of the problem is big and it will become bigger with time.