Karen Stephenson’s Quantum Theory of Trust

In a previous blog, Networks of the Future, I described some of the predictions about the rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) that inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil has made. In his book, “The Singularity is Near,” Kurzweil lays out his vision of how computers will become ever more powerful until a single laptop surpasses all the human brains put together. According to Kurzweil, at a certain level of power and performance the only possible way to increase the intelligence of the machines further will be to begin converting all of the matter of the universe into massive computers.

Kurzweil believes that the result of this process will be that the entire universe will be made into a giant supercomputer in which AI and humans will form hybrids that will have both supreme intelligence and physical control over the universe. If and when this result materializes, there will in essence be one vast, powerful network that controls the universe.

Humans, who have initiated this process, will, in Kurzweil’s words, have “infused the universe with intelligence and order.” One might well ask, is this the evolutionary imperative of Homo sapiens? If so, the result will be almost unimaginable as seen through our current lens on human behavior. If we as individuals want to help shape this evolutionary vision, we first need to think about what qualities beside intelligence we would like in this all-encompassing network of the future.

Karen Stephenson, a corporate anthropologist and leading social network theorist, has developed what she calls “the quantum theory of trust” in which she posits that trust is the most important quality in networks. According to Stephenson, “A network is a seamless and invisible web of entrusted connections.” Therefore, we need to ask, what is it that makes trust such an important quality of networks?

Stephenson tells us that any organization’s most precious asset is the knowledge and experience of the people in that organization. For her, much of this knowledge is “tacit knowledge” or “the knowledge that people have at their fingertips, at the tips of their brains.” Stephenson offers that this tacit knowledge is not found in computers but rather it “resides entirely within the people of the organization who are connected in invisible “informal” networks.” At the core of Stephenson’s thinking about networks is the belief that, “In organizations, trust is the utility through which tacit knowledge flows.” Thus, trust becomes the critical element because, “organizations with a high level of trust are better able to cultivate and increase collective cognitive capability.”

For Stephenson, the opposite of trust is betrayal, or the breaking of trust. She has written, “You can’t come back from betrayal. It takes you 20 years to build a reputation, it takes two seconds to have it destroyed.” During the last few years, we have only had to look at the headlines to see that betrayal is widespread: the collapse of Enron under its massive fraud; trillions of dollars of public money to bail out Wall Street banks from the toxic securities they had underwritten which were based on fraudulent mortgages or “liar loans”; the betrayal of long-time clients by Bernie Madoff; the betrayal a software engineer felt that led him to fly his small plane into an IRS building in Texas, “What is happening to me? I have done all the right things. I am a God-fearing Christian. I work hard for my family. I have a gun. I believe in the values of the country and my life is collapsing.” The latest news of betrayal is gushing out of a failed oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico.

In the face of such ubiquitous betrayal, an important question remains: How do we remake our government, financial institutions, and other networks so that they are based on trust instead of some short-term value that implodes?

Sources:

* The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil

*Karen Stephenson’s Quantum Theory of Trust by Art Kleiner, http://www.well.com/~art/s%2Bb42002cm.html

* http://www.netform.com/