Trust is a rational policy for conditions where knowledge is unavailable

Evidence

Trust is a policy apt for conditions where knowledge is unavailable, as in the case of the free acts of another person (in Locke’s view) it will always remain. Trust does not have to be any more credulous or sentimental than the judgement of those who decide how to allocate it, though it will in practice, naturally, not be any less so either. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 1197

Categorization

• DEFINE: Precisely defines trust as a policy chosen under uncertainty about others’ free acts — directly parallel to Luhmann’s ‘familiarity’ as a baseline under uncertainty.
• XREF: Connects directly to the reader’s core thesis pairing Saramago’s blindness epidemic (removed observability) with Luhmann/Hardin on trust requiring observable constraints. — connects to: Grounded trust cannot be selectively aimed without criteria for selection; Rational trust requires both trusted’s incentives and truster’s knowledge; Buber defines trust as ungrounded and thus excludes evidence-based trust (+7 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 1197

Broader Connections

• Trust substitutes knowledge of system structure for unavailable information about others. #expands (0.82)
• Trust is a three-part cognitive relation grounded in truth, not choice #complicates (0.78)
• Humans can intentionally choose trust rather than inherit it as a by-product of evolution #expands (0.75) — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 2821