In Rheingold's Smart Mobs: The Power of the Mobile Many an interesting idea, while perhaps not the focus of the article, is established; that a formula for 'trust' could be made to link together people with commonalities to further both parties endeavors through mobile technology. Rheingold cites Kortuem et al. (on pg. 43 of the course packet) and their experimental system WALID. The idea of WALID interests me because it offers efficiency to the mundane errands we loathe. As a society we already look for ways to make these errands simpler, from drive-thrus at many stores to common purchases collected together at 'convenience' stores, however WALID lumps individuals together to trade favors to further efficiency. The novelty rests in technology determining the trust and relative payoffs of each action.
It's hard enough to know whom one can trust, let alone if face-to-face contact has been minimal. So I wonder, can humans know how to program a machine to determine trust between individuals? For actions as simple as picking up milk for a little known neighbor around the corner, most likely, but beyond that how far would this trust extend? When do the risks outweigh the payoffs?
While many of the ideas in Reingold's article are fairly abstract and years away, they are certainly interesting to think about as even today we increasingly let machines shape decisions about our lives.
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The question of trust is a really interesting one. Can a machine simulate this human experience and, if so, to what degree? I of course don't have an answer for that, but I suspect that whatever shape these technologies take--and however they configure trust for us--will require us to adjust our understandings of trust at least a little. If we continue to think of trust in a complex, dialogic way, then the likelihood that a machine will be able to simulate this isn't good. If, on the other hand, we're willing to give trust over a little to coding and other algorithmic constraints, then maybe something like WALID has a chance.
When you ask if we can program a machine to sense trust I immediately thought we would have to tackle the problem from the other direction. Meaning that an option would be to only allow pre-approved people to purchase and operate the latest and greatest technology with video messaging and GPS capability.
This, along with all the election hype, reminded me of the Patriot Act and gun control. I can see our government trying to control the usage of technology with a combination of invading privacy and licenses.
I have already established a personal belief that I do not think the church and state should mix, but I have not given though to technology and state. What is our world coming to?
I as well am interested in how can we ever measure ones personal trust level. With all this technology, you would think that they should be able to measure ones level of trust. If you think about it, there was one system that measured the compatibility within a certain radius, then I think they should try to find a way to tell if someone is unsafe, for example, a registered sex offender. I think that given time, more problems will eventually be worked out.
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