What is the future of trust?
Trust is an integral part of society. Trusting allows us to live more efficiently and progress faster. Almost every area of life involves an element of trust. Our economy relies on trust in the banking system and in currency. Our health relies on trust in medical science and its practitioners. Our relationships rely on trust in each other and our shared values.
Societal trust has evolved from the days when we lived in small villages, when everyone knew each other and would be held accountable for their actions by neighbours. As societies grew beyond the scope of the small village, we began to rely on organisations like governments, unions and corporations to act as mediators of trust. We still rely on these centralised organisations today.
We have recently begun to see the disruption of some of these traditional institutions. The internet and the ubiquity of mobile devices has allowed us to connect directly with each other, although still through systems implemented by large corporations. The sharing economy is growing and we may reach a point where trust becomes more distributed, moving away from a centralised model.
Through this project we have explored some potential futures, looking at how changes in society may change the way we live our lives and the impact these changes may have on trust in the society of 2030.
The everyday objects we surround ourselves with can tell us a lot about the nature of our society and our lifestyles.
The three speculative 2030 societies were explored through the kinds of objects that citizens would use on a day to day basis. The object tells its own story about life in 2030, and in combination they paint a richer vision of daily life.
The design of the objects, their form, materials and functions all tell us something deeper about the various aspects of trust in each of our speculative 2030 societies.
These objects should be viewed as a form of ‘future archaeology.’ What can they tell us about life in 2030 and how would we feel if our lives changed in these directions?
Decentralised & TransparentOver the last decade(2020-2030), the government experienced a series of massive data leaks. One particularly horrendous story centred around major human rights violations sanctioned by the government.
Protests broke out across the country. Citizens, rightly disgusted by what the government was keeping from them, demanded accountability and transparency on all issues.
Politicians responded to this crisis by denouncing the human rights violations and government secrecy in general. Transparency became a major campaign talking point. A race ensued around who could most fully demonstrate radical transparency first. One politician even went so far as to open up her life to a 24 hour livestream. With that gesture, the floodgates for the “full transparency” movement opened.
In 2030, information that was previously thought of as private is now shared openly, by companies and individuals alike. Full transparency extends into all aspects of everyday life, from provenance of food sources to salary and health information. Trust in business is high as citizens believe the full transparency movement keeps companies accountable and honest. With nothing to fear, data is freely given out.
The sheer amount of available data has allowed artificial intelligence to become highly sophisticated. In this data-driven society, products and services are becoming more predictive everyday.
Communicating Trust with Transparency
- ID for Gig economy
How can people build one-on-one trust, in a world where they demonstrate their originality through gig work?
Centralised & CuratedOver the last decade(2020-2030), the government experienced a series of massive data leaks. Faith in the government’s ability to keep information secure gradually faded with each subsequent breach.
Sensing a window of opportunity, large corporations began investing in lobbying efforts to impress upon the population that they were more capable of running the country than the failing government.
Under tremendous pressure, politicians slowly began to relinquish control of key public services and undo monopoly laws.
Large companies began to merge and become even larger. Prices fell. Services became more streamlined. Life for the average citizen became less expensive and immeasurably more efficient. Brand loyalty and trust increased.
Within a year of the total repeal of monopoly laws, one corporation seemed to acquire smaller companies at a rate not seen before, until they owned virtually 90% of the market share.
They are now the go-to destination for virtually everything, from food to medical needs. The enormous amount of data they’ve acquired on individuals also means customers are served the most personalised experience possible. Products and services continue to become smarter every day.
Distributed & AutonomousOver the last decade(2020-2030), the government experienced a series of massive data leaks, some exposing decades of corruption. As the government began picking up the pieces of these explosive hits, large corporations, including all major banks, became the next target.
Citizens lost money, others personal data. There was no longer any sense of assurance that large institutions and infrastructures could keep information and property safe and secure.
In what could only be described as a state of panic, citizens across the country began pulling out all of their resources (or what remained of them) from banks and other financial institutions. The economy quickly took a plunge and the country fell into a deep financial crisis.
With nowhere to turn, communities began looking inward. The two paths were clear: either go it alone or self organise into small, independent communities. Without any centralised power, who else could be trusted?
Today, society is highly individualised. Citizens rely on open source projects and the trading of information and assets as currency. People learn new skills and hack together fixes for day to day problems.
Communities run their own energy grids and produce their own food.
Societal trust is generally low, except within small communities. Self reliance is high.
This project is a collaboration between Hitachi and Method, a leading global design firm based in London, New York and San Jose. Based on a global research performed by Method, designers from the two companies worked together to explore the role of trust in the future.
