The Decision To Trust And Entrust

Friend Or Foe?

Trust, The Vital Human Currency

Judge we must, being judgmental we must not be. The ability to triage and decide who to trust is a matter of strategic decision of safety and security . It is a question of astute vigilance and foolish paranoia.

Knowing who to trust is 1 part, know what to entrust yet another. The crux of the question is also in knowing what to share, how to share them safely, e.g. beware the MitM (Man-In-The-Middle). It is hard to tell friend or foe prima facie, and it is hard to tell to know if the information at hand would be misused or abused, or miscarried out of context. Discreetness and deception, therein, becomes defense.

过慧易夭 (guò huì yì yāo): prodigious intelligence can lead to premature demise.
Hide not your talents, they for use were made. What's a sun-dial in the shade! - Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1750
He's a fool that cannot conceal his wisdom. - Benjamin Franklin, 1745
It is hard to be real in a world so fake. - 2012-08.11
Beware of jaundiced associates and be careful of addressing them as friends, no matter how jocund or under what jollity, if their words do not jibe with their actions. (rephased) - 1984
The smile of a false friend is the most achroous, savorless, and aosmic (anosmic) veneniferous trojan your true fiend may offer. - Re: Of amity and enmity, 2004-07.31

You have to be judicious with the people you allow to be in your trusted domain. Are you with the right people? Are you empowering the right people? It is unfortunate that there are malicious people amidst us. They may be the innocuous paranoid Yuko, or the worm-tongue ambushing in the fog. Whether of overt hostility and covert aggression, whether of snakes (deceptive, manipulative) and tigers (direct harm), the danger is unfortunately ever present and real, albeit unclear.

Against The Vulpine

In history, we see innumerable events that constitution fell abject and critical operations vitiated by treacherous men. These lessons must be noted.

Treachery is viral and virulent, the faithless few may be reckoning, if they remain unchecked, soon you may find yourself surrounded within a murderous lair of ravenous and voracious wolves.

Be watchful against those who waffle, be wary of those who vacillate at the glimpse of lucre. Check every mien, every choice of words, tones, moods, every smiles, every activity, every intentions, do not let any vestige of evidence escape your eye. I assure you, this will not only retain your power, it will save your life.

明枪易挡, 暗箭难防 (míng qiāng yì dǎng, àn jiàn nán fáng): It is easy to fend open attacks, but not hidden arrows.
江湖 (jiāng hú): The concept of the human jungle.

I don’t care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don’t have any of their own. ― Nikola Tesla (July 10, 1856 — January 07, 1943)

The Context Of Trust

We had discoursed on assessing who to trust in order to know who to trust. We had also described the attributes of the right people we should be with.

Caveat:
False friends can be frightening, however, as much as we do not deserve them, we must not be them. Ensure that the root cause is not - us to begin with. Ensure human quality - by starting with ourselves. The question turns back introspectively - can we really trust ourselves?
“””
Since I cannot govern my own tongue, tho' within my ownteeth, how can I hope to govern the tongues of others? - Benjamin Franklin
12 If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him. 13 But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, 14 with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God. 15 Let death take my enemies by surprise; let them go down alive to the grave, for evil finds lodging among them. - Psalms 55:12-15
20 My companion attacks his friends; he violates his covenant. 21 His speech is smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart; his words are more soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords. - Psalms 55:20-21
The same man cannot be both friend and flatterer. - Benjamin Franklin, 1744
The Devil sweetens poison with honey. - Benjamin Franklin, 1747
“””

The context of trust also has to address the knowing of what to share, how to share them safely, and when to entrust.

What:
This is more of the who. Secrets to be shared depends not so much of the weight it carries, but who can carry them, and why there is a `need to know`. The reason to entrust the secrets is because we need to ensure someone is able to carry the order in the case we are not available or avail to, e.g. deter SPOF (Single Point Of Failure) or `Dead Man's Switch`, etc. The caveat here is the transitive dilemma, once it is given, it has to be assured and sworn of its secrecy.
"""
Glass, China, and reputation, are easily crack'd, and never well mended. - Benjamin Franklin, 1750
Your friend might have another friend. - Jewish proverb
To condemn me, you have to be qualified to be part of my friends. To be my friend, you have to be qualified to be entrusted ... ... because I will be defenseless after you pass the sentinel zone to obtain unchecked access. - 2013-11.16
"""
How:
You want to ensure to fend against MitM (Man-In-The-Middle) to deter unintended divulge and leaks, or having the content taken out of trusted context.
隔墙有耳 (gé qiáng yǒu 'ěr): There are ears behind the walls.

What They Are Not Ready For

There are many times people are not ready to handle certain facts. You need to make the time right. Do not sow the seeds in the wrong seasons. Show only your true emotions and thoughts based on the level of trust.

When:
Some discreteness is not due to threats or risks, rather it runs the risks of miscontextual premature rejection.
"""
Tell a miser he's rich, and a woman she's old, you'll get no money of one, nor kindness of t'other. - Benjamin Franklin
A slip of the foot you may soon recover; But a slip of the Tongue you may never get over. - Benjamin Franklin, 1747
Let thy discontents be secrets. - Benjamin Franklin,
You may give a man an office, but you cannot give him discretio. - Benjamin Franklin, 1754
When the Wine enters, out goes the Truth. - Benjamin Franklin, 1755
Sometimes a lie was made because of a reverse distrust - they don't trust you to tell you the truth. - Re: Will you be fair yourself to others, 2013-12.19
"""

The Right Thing In The Wrong Hands

Trust can be misused and abused, not just misplaced. While a trustworthy and trusted person may not fail the expected designs, are the expected designs rightful and righteous? Compliance is a necessary but not sufficient criteria for trustworthiness.

Make them trustworthy, and ‘gift’ them with trust. Help them to prove it to you. They will earn it accordingly. It is a resource they have to start with. Trust can be a seed we give, and trust later on would be the fruits we harvest.

Betrayed By Machines

Trust may be measured in terms of the control willing to be confidently relegated. Trust must correspond with assurance control. If you are using a means, that becomes a trusted entity to represent you in the execution and expression. The root of trust must be immutable and infallible, and remain irrefutable, relevant and definitive for all times.

When components interact, transitive problem comes into question — the trust metric may measure the nature of the code, but it cannot measure the external codes (shared or dynamically linked libraries) that it is dependent on or the conditions that it is subjected to.

The Code Of Trust

Beyond all sense and measure of reliability, trust, safety, security and order, is moral justice and honor in which the values and virtues are obscure to define.

Why should justice and democracy be determined and governed by majority and quantity? How do we account for Socrates’ end? I don’t need to know what the government in power is doing, I just need to know and ensure that the government in power is benevolent.

You have to trust the quality of the multitudes, as well as the quality of the head (group) of the state who is coordinating the decision making process, to trust the particular form and practice of democracy. Democracy or non-democratic — in the end, the system is only as fine as the quality of the people.

Democracy does not mean there is a rational individual right, it means that the decision finalization goes to the majority. Which means, there might be a possible scenario that majority can vote you to be executed. Do not forget that Socrates’ end was democratic. Socrates paid with his life believing in a democracy with a foundation of poor human quality.

How would a trust and empathetic model of a civilization look like to form homeostasis so that we can regulate the human population harmoniously, allocate resources fairly and advance humanity exponentially?

狼/虎羊同厩, 岂能安眠: How can a wolf/tiger and sheep sleep peacefully in the same stable?
If security is guaranteed to us, would we still bear arms? - 2013-07.14
No gun with fire power ever stronger can defend us from diseases, old age and stupidity. The best disguise of strength and power cannot veil the sincere sorrow of an empty life. - 2013-07.14

Hope In Humanity

The hope in humanity questions if humanity is ready for reasonability, empathy, and fundamentally — sanity. When examining these, we are basically assessing the quality of humanity. Are the common people merely hiding in the midst on ravenous self-seeking? The `Lord of the Flies` was a cautionary social parable by William Golding.

We are caged by our cultural programming. Culture is a mass hallucination, and when you step outside the mass hallucination you see it for what it's worth. - Terence Kemp McKenna (16 November 1946 – 3 April 2000), Eros and the Eschaton lecture (1994)
Human beings, who are almost unique (creatures) in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. - Douglas Adams
Nationalism is our form of incest, is our idolatry, is our insanity. - Erich Fromm (March 23, 1900 - March 18, 1980)
Nationalism is an infantile disease; it is the measles of mankind. - Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879 - April 18, 1955)
The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them. - George Orwell (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950)
The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything. – Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879 - April 18, 1955)
The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. - Plato (429?–347 B.C.E.)
The proud hate pride – in others. - Benjamin Franklin, 1751
Люди не делятся на национальности, партии, фракции и религии. Люди делятся на умных и дебилов, а вот дебилы делятся на национальности, партии, фракции и религии. - анонимное
(People are not divided into nationalities, parties, factions and religions. People are divided into smart and morons, but morons are divided into nationalities, parties, factions and religions.) - Anonymous

The dangerous part is almost everyone takes sides and preferences — not universal justice or impartial fairness. It’s vested interest in the disguise of self-justified righteousness. The supporter of Nazi felt no less righteous or fervent either, but that does not mean they are sane and sound. It is delirious and ludicrous to discuss justice with those with self-vested ambitions. This is why we don’t hear complaints of the common people why senators rarely debate on how to resolve the needy problems of the homeless, sick and deprived. The tragic reality is that everyone is actually voting for themselves, or to be precise — their own self-interests.

Most people do not know, and they do not care, and even if they do, they do not care enough to understand; and even if they do, they will return to their assembly lines at the end of the day, because that is the only reality they can understand. - 2015-05.31
正义应该是全球而非区域性的. 很多人的眼光看放不够宽放不够远.
(Justice is not regional matter, it is a subject of virtue. The crucible should be global and uniform inclusiveness. Self-vested interest is not righteousness, it is just self-interest.)
- 2009

August Landmesser refused to do the “Sieg Heil” salute during a Nazi rally at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg on June 13, 1936.

He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice. - Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879 - April 18, 1955)
Military cemeteries around the world are packed with brainwashed, dead soldiers who were convinced God was on their side. America prays for God to destroy our enemies; our enemies pray for God to destroy us... Somebody's going to be disappointed. Somebody's wasting their f***ing time. Could it be... everyone? - George Carlin  (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008)

There is a scene from the movie, 'The Swordsman', which was adapted from Louis Cha's novel, "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer" (笑傲江湖), which is a social and political satire. There is a scene where the night before a journey, all the students from Hua Shan were so frightened that no one dares to rest, in fear that they will be ambushed and killed in their sleep. They kept awake with songs and food. When the protagonist and his friends were using the sword as barbecue instruments, Ren Wo Xing remarked "for a warrior, the sword... is his life, but you disdained it and abuse it for whimsical use. It seems that you are really determined to leave the pugilistic society, but Ling, let me ask you - Where there is chaos, there are people; where there are people, there are chaos (society). How do you mean to leave the pugilistic society (breaks into laughter)".
The story is a satire that is referring about the real world. The officials (representing the government) and other pugilists (representing people in pursuit of power and glory) fighting for the "Sacred Manual" (perverse power to satisfy the ego).
In the end, the conclusion starts with the statement "yet another 'Dong Fang Bu Bai' (meaning that with the end of 1 evil, another begins)". Ren Wo Xing's daughter came to warn Ling that he must leave. While stopped by another warrior along the way, the interceptor tried to commit suicide to save Ling as an feign of mission failure ending in getting himself killed instead. Eventually when his suicide attempt was thwarted by Ling himself, the swords severed one of his arms to put up an alternative feign that he attempted his best upon returning to report to Ren Wo Xing.
The story depicts the inevitability and fatality of the evils of humanity, where people are willing to go to any lengths to quench their blood thirsty pursuit of ego and vain-glory, even to the extent of perversion and deforming themselves. It also depicts the emptiness and danger of vanity and power struggle, yet brings hope of the possibility of human kindness.
"""
Ren Wo Xing (任我行): If your next generation cannot withstand the temptation of the sword, and take up the sword to draw power, can you stop them?
Ling Hu Chong (令狐沖) (in shock and fear of the thought): Next generation? I have not thought about the next generation.
Ren Wo Xing: 令狐沖, you are too naïve, you do not understand the world, and you know nothing of the world. Your enemies are afraid of your revenge, they will come after you. 
Where there are people, there will be kindness and vengeance. With kindness and vengeance, there will be affairs of people. Where there are people there is 江湖, where there is 江湖, there are people. Where can you go? You want to be secluded, how can that be done?
- Swordman II, (笑傲江湖, movie, 1992)
A mob's a monster; Heads enough, but no brains. - Benjamin Franklin, 1747
I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people. - Isaac Newton (January 4, 1643 - March 31, 1727)
Paintings and fightings are best seen at a distance. - Benjamin Franklin, 1753
"""

Morality is doing what is right regardless of what you are told. Obedience is doing what you are told, regardless of what is right. Most people think they have an opinion, in actuality, they are merely given one to make-believe all their life.

Every belief takes the same form — whether it be religion or politics, creed or credo, it is just primate tribal behavior imprinted. Universal empathy rarely exists. The good news is that it is present, just rare, and it is likely our answer , our hope — our panacea, but I want to challenge on how many care enough?

Universal love is not social insurance, it is an investiture of hope, a commitment to humanity. Universal love though a universal law, does not exist in natural state, it has to be cultured.

"""
Adam Smith was skeptical not about the strength of altruism, but about its scope or reach. For example, he uses an example in this book that is highly relevant to the present and to Gates’ quest. He asks “how a man of humanity in Europe: would respond to hearing ” that the great empire of China… was suddenly swallowed up by an earthquake…”? 
... “If he [this man] was to lose his little finger tomorrow, he would not sleep tonight; but, provided he never saw them [i.e, the people of China], he would snore with the most profound security over the ruin of a 100 million of his brethren, and the destruction of that immense multitude seems plainly an object less interesting to him than this paltry misfortune of his own” (Part III, Chapter 3). - Gary Becker (December 2, 1930 – May 3, 2014)
"""
There are 3 forms of injustice: injustice which we deprive the justice to others, injustice in disguise of mere self-interests, and injustice in depriving the chance of the greater possibility. - 2015-12.01
As man advances in civilization, and small tribes are united into larger communities, the simplest reason would tell each individual that he ought to extend his social instincts and sympathies to all members of the same nation, though personally unknown to him. This point being once reached, there is only an artificial barrier to prevent his sympathies extending to the men of all nations and races. — Charles Darwin (February 12, 1809 - April 19, 1882), `The Descent of Man`
Large parts of the world are faced with starvation, while others are living in abundance. The nations were promised liberation and justice, but we have witnessed and are witnessing, even now, the sad spectacle of liberating armies firing into populations who want their independence and social equality, and supporting in those countries by force of arms, such parties and personalities as appear to be most suited to serve vested interests. Territorial questions and arguments of power, obsolete though they are, still prevail over the essential demands of common welfare and justice. - Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879 - April 18, 1955)
兼爱不是社会保险，她是对人类希望的授职. Universal love is not social insurance, it is an investiture of hope, a commitment to humanity. - Ursa
墨子:"只有兼爱才是真爱, 其余私欲". (Mo Zi: "Only universal and unconditioned affection (兼爱) is true love, else it is merely conditional desire.")

Sanctity And Sanity Of Trust

When it comes to religion (including nationalism), money and politics, most people are selfish, bad people. If there is any of these, it is hard for us to trust the people.

Trustworthiness and expertise are the basis of credible authority. Garner power and align gradually to the direction which we will be going, if everyone is pushing in the same direction, speed gathers. If everyone moves in their own whims, we will scatter, and things will fall apart. Let’s make sure we trust and think for each other first. This is always the foremost step, the hardest labor pain which we must bear.

If we could share the problems, link and relate the problems, and share the same vision empathetically, we can move many things forward. How do we build consanguineous trust and compelling bonding? Insecurity is perhaps the greatest threat to the culture itself.

Faith Of Trust

A trusted reference is the reliable evidence of trustworthiness — the parameters which forms the basis for the predicates to be verified. Trust is a vital human currency, we have to earn it. The way to gain trust is to give it first. Grace is the key to trust. You want trust, you have to offer your heart.

Sincerity And Candor

If you want to build values, first build virtues. There is no trust without the compassionate sincerity and bold candor. The base of all hope is virtues. There you build your spirited honor.

Study methodologies to mitigate mistakes and menace. Always choose the moral courage of the incorruptible virtuous, and not sink with the decadent. To have a trustworthy environment, gather quality people, and start from a exacting refined version of yourself.

An honest answer is the sign of true friendship. — Proverbs 24:26
A friend means well, even when he hurts you. But when an enemy puts his hand round your shoulder - watch out! - Proverbs 27:6
Faithful friends are beyond price: No amount can balance their worth - Sirach 6:15
Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor liberty to purchase power. - Benjamin Franklin
The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues. - René Descartes, `Le Discours de la Méthode` (Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason, and Seeking Truth in the Sciences, 1637)
I have found the missing link between the higher ape and civilized man; it is we. - Konrad Lorenz
We have a choice: We can enhance life and come to know the universe that made us, or we can squander our 15 billion-year heritage in meaningless self-destruction. What happens in the first second of the next cosmic year depends on what we do, here and now, with our intelligence and our knowledge of the cosmos. - Carl Sagan (November 9 - December 20, 1996)

We Are Unlikely The Strongest

Our hope is to build a trust ecology for symbiotic co-empowerment before we encounter the most unforgiving fiend. Time is not what we can afford to waste. We have to excel together or perish separately and undeservedly in waste.

The universe is a dark forest. Every civilization is an armed hunter stalking through the trees like a ghost, gently pushing aside branches that block the path and trying to tread without sound. Even breathing is done with care. The hunter has to be careful, because everywhere in the forest are stealthy hunters like him. If he finds other life—another hunter, an angel or a demon, a delicate infant or a tottering old man, a fairy or a demigod—there’s only one thing he can do: open fire and eliminate them. In this forest, hell is other people. An eternal threat that any life that exposes its own existence will be swiftly wiped out. This is the picture of cosmic civilization. It’s the explanation for the Fermi Paradox. ― Liu Cixin, The Dark Forest

The Chapter Of Betrayal

There is a difference between paranoia and vigilance. Do not let your misjudgment curse you with the Yuko Syndrome. Misjudgment is not the misplacement of trust that creates the opportunity for betrayal, it is also the loss of bridging trust that created the distrust in the first place. Trust is to be grown and built, it is never meant to be found.

`Lore from the Romance of the 3 Kingdoms (三国论), Reflections of Strategies`.

A series on lessons learned.

Lore from the Romance of the 3 Kingdoms (三国论)