Trust

Trust is an intricate thing to say the least. Some people put trust in other people and other entities too easily and others are as paranoid as they come. As with many things, I guess neither extreme is that good and to my shame, I'm still searching for an equilibrium myself. Trust is difficult to achieve and even more difficult to uphold. From a game theoretical point of view, there are quite many strategies which suggest that abusing trust in certain situations would be beneficial. Perhaps even necessary, if you have the ability to strike first and in that way defend your positions better. But game theory is also an interesting thing in the sense that it offers some lenses to view the world through, but following it blindly is not good either.

I took a Pendolino to Salo this today and a person sitting behind me didn't have a ticket. That by itself isn't that big a deal, as he was running late and wanted to purchase the ticket from the train. Unfortunately for him, Visa Electron doesn't work unless there's a direct connection to the bank with which the account balance can be checked and the money deducted. The person checking the tickets, however, did something rather unusual. He showed trust. He advised the passenger that the passenger should go and purchase the proper ticket in Turku and that he would go by the ticket office to check that the passenger had indeed bought the ticket.

From a selfish game theoretical point of view the passenger could've just walked out of the train and be done with that. Free train ride to Turku. The only incentive for the passenger to buy the ticket would be that in the future a same sort of arrangement could be used if people do not abuse the trust that they are given. At least from my point of view it's very strange that this level of trust is shown towards complete strangers. I just hope that the guy actually bought the ticket. In fact, I do believe that he bought the ticket and that's one of the things I like about Finland. The honesty.