Liars and Outliers: Enabling the Trust That Society Needs to Thrive by Bruce Schneier (2012)

In the book, Liars and Outliers, Bruce Schneier examines the role of trust in enabling healthy, functioning societies. Schneier argues that some level of trust is essential for large-scale social coordination and cooperation. Without trust, societies cannot thrive, and individuals are forced to avoid interactions or spend heavily on protection from abuse and cheating.

The book explores how societies use security systems, reputational systems, and institutional systems to enable trust among people, organizations, and systems. These systems allow most people to cooperate while controlling the minority of "defectors" who try to cheat the system. Liars and outliers who defect from social norms are punished or coerced to uphold standards of honest behavior.

Schneier analyzes different models of trust, reputation, and security across many disciplines - from evolutionary biology to game theory to sociology. He shows how insights from these fields can inform the design of robust trust systems. The book offers a multi-layered framework for thinking about trust as an essential component of human societies, even in a world rife with liars and outliers.

Overall, Liars and Outliers highlights the importance of trust for prosperous, ethical societies and provides insights into fostering trust. Schneier aims to enable trust where it is warranted and provide accountability where it is needed.

 
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