Who do you trust?

Most of us, if pressed to answer that odd yet supremely important question, would compose rather short lists. Our family members, maybe. A few close friends.

In reality, though, we trust far more people than that. Total strangers, for example: ¡°This taxi driver is competent behind the wheel and will take me where I want to go.¡± We trust faceless businesses: ¡°This item I bought online will arrive in the mail as promised.¡± Though we often claim we don¡¯t, we often trust the government ¡ª whose regulators, courts and other instruments of authority are, after all, the ultimate guarantors of our safe taxi rides and properly fulfilled online purchases.