Who can you trust? : how technology brought us together and why it might drive us apart / Rachel Botsman.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-308) and index.

Evolution of trust -- Introduction -- Trust leaps. From eleventh-century traders to Alibaba: how trust works to cross barriers, calm fears and revolutionize what's possible -- Losing faith. Behind the devastating crisis in institutional trust--and why we're now more likely to "phone a friend" -- Strangely familiar. From sushi to self-driving cars--some surprising lessons in persuading people to trust new ideas -- Where does the buck stop? When trust crashes in the "self-managed" digital world, who's accountable? -- But she looked the part. A cautionary tale about deceptive appearances, and the technology that could unmask fakers and frauds -- Reputation is everything, even in the dark. what drug dealers on the darknet can teach us about great customer service -- Rated: would your life get a good trust score? When dystopian sci-fi turns into a reality and every little move you make is ranked, who wins and who loses? -- In bots we trust. But should we...an how to we make them ethical? -- Blockchain part I: the digital gold rush. From fei to bitcoin, the long road to setting money free. What will it mean for the City? -- Blockchain part II: the truth machine. The golden promises of the blockchain: over-hyped or the trustworthy key to our digital future? -- Conclusion.

Argues that society is now built upon a distrust of institutions and government, with people instead tending to trust complete strangers, or even an Internet bot, and explains the mechanics of trust to show how to benefit from this radical shift.