Mistrust

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mistrust

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There are four types of mistrust, which correspond to, and possibly map against, the four types of trust.

	Commodity (Product/Service)
Authority (Hierarchic)		Network (Web)
	Relationship (Authentic)

On this page, we discuss the Devil's Advocate as Lord of Mistrust.

Veryard Projects colleagues Aidan Ward and John Smith have just published a book called Trust and Mistrust in which they explore the four types of trust in great detail. This book can be read as an extended expression of mistrust in all forms of inauthentic trust.

Restoring trust

Devil's Advocate as Lord of Mistrust

veryard projects > trust > mistrust > devil's advocate

If the Catholic Church has a monopoly on the creation of saints (at least within a certain namespace), then it seems that (metaphorically speaking) the Devil (in the person of His advocate) has a monopoly of mistrust. This is of course authority (hierarchic) mistrust.

In other contexts, however, the place of suspicion and mistrust is not under centralized hierarchical authority, but is distributed though a network or community.

The Catholic Church has institutionalized - and therefore created a weak version of - something that perhaps originates in the domain of authentic (relationship) trust. An authentic saint survives being tested by the Devil - or by many devils. Indeed, the testing process may establish and reinforce the sainthood, just as a sword is strengthened by being proved.

veryard projects > trust > mistrust