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> One of the big problems of the past was the insane level of trust in institutions that were at best credulous and more realistically just lying continuously a

> One of the big problems of the past was the insane level of trust in institutions that were at best credulous and more realistically just lying continuously and brazenly. > It’s the opposite. Trust nothing, and we end up with pure chaos and the tragedy of the commons. The parent comment you are responding to is appropriately qualified, and you are throwing away that qualification. Trusting institutions that taking advantage of you to look out for your interests is worse than not trusting institutions at all (example: the institution of slavery, justified by racist pseudoscience, when you are not a protected class). Yes, the existence of institutions that can be trusted to look out for your interests (example: food safety regulators wrt. hygiene) is important, if that is what you are trying to say.

RealityVoid 2y ago
I would argue the paragraph you point out is appropriately qualified, but the comment itself is NOT appropriately qualified. The reason is OP feels hopeful about this lack of trust. And OP did not say what institutions he deems untrustwordy. Is it the "institution" of slavery? (I am always confused by calling this a instituion, it's not like it's an organization and a front desk) or CDC and FEMA? I agree, you should trust untrustwordy entities and trust trustwordy ones. It feels like a truism, but a lot of people revert to the behavior that misplaced trust is too costly and let's not trust at all because of this. Lack of trust comes with a hefty price itself. I personally feel that this leads to the unraveling of society.
- roenxi 2y ago
  > And OP did not say what institutions he deems untrustwordy. In context I think it is fairly clear what OP meant - big tech and the traditional media sources like newspapers, corporate news and radio. Although if you hear "untrustworthy institutions" and the groups that sprig to mind are the CDC and FEMA, maybe someone should work on making them more trustworthy too.
  - RealityVoid 2y ago
    If you hear someone say they can't see the curvature of the earth and and think flat earth someone should make the earth rounder. You get what I'm hinting at, someone having some sort of belief does not ground that belief in reality.

RealityVoid 2y ago

I would argue the paragraph you point out is appropriately qualified, but the comment itself is NOT appropriately qualified. The reason is OP feels hopeful about this lack of trust. And OP did not say what institutions he deems untrustwordy. Is it the "institution" of slavery? (I am always confused by calling this a instituion, it's not like it's an organization and a front desk) or CDC and FEMA? I agree, you should trust untrustwordy entities and trust trustwordy ones. It feels like a truism, but a lot of people revert to the behavior that misplaced trust is too costly and let's not trust at all because of this. Lack of trust comes with a hefty price itself. I personally feel that this leads to the unraveling of society.

roenxi 2y ago
> And OP did not say what institutions he deems untrustwordy. In context I think it is fairly clear what OP meant - big tech and the traditional media sources like newspapers, corporate news and radio. Although if you hear "untrustworthy institutions" and the groups that sprig to mind are the CDC and FEMA, maybe someone should work on making them more trustworthy too.
- RealityVoid 2y ago
  If you hear someone say they can't see the curvature of the earth and and think flat earth someone should make the earth rounder. You get what I'm hinting at, someone having some sort of belief does not ground that belief in reality.