Rules of Trust

A diagnosis of a disease. The adjudication of a litigious case. The introduction of automated underground train. A massive injection of remote control devices in the implant of local energy engines. As citizens we loosen up the demand of control most of the time. We trust. In what we trust and above all why do we do so? Workers, professionals, experts and policy makers rely on heteronomous intelligences. Robots. Algorithms. And combinations of those. They also trust. Do we blindly trust? Not really. When errors, misfits or the doubt of a selfish attitude hit us we start to feel our trust jeopardized. The balance between expertise acknowledgment and democratic participation is one of the compelling dilemmas present and future generations face. This book presents a proposal for a cyclic, scientifically sounded and democratically responsive governance of a digital society. Drawing from five research projects and their results the author leads the readers – with particular attention to the professions, such as lawyers, medical doctors, local administrators, managers, citizens in general – in a multicolor journey bringing straight to the point. Which method to follow to set up rules for a digital society featuring the highest levels of trust?