Before social media, newspapers or even writing, humans had a way of working out who to trust. We talked about each other.

In this episode, Mary-Ann Ochota explores gossip as one of humanity’s oldest social technologies. Cognitive neuroscientist Professor Sophie Scott explains why gossip may have evolved as an efficient human equivalent of primate grooming. It helps us build bonds, share information and work out who belongs in our social world.

Historian and writer Tom Standage traces how those conversations travelled further as new technologies arrived. From Roman letters and early newspapers to the printing press and the internet, every new medium has expanded our circle of gossip. It has made it easier to share knowledge, but also easier for rumours, propaganda and misinformation to travel far beyond the people who can verify them.

Then mathematician and data scientist Cathy O’Neil asks what happens when the gossip machine is run by algorithms. Her work reveals how the systems making decisions about jobs, education, credit and more can carry old prejudices into the future. Algorithms can be enormously useful, but if we are going to trust them, we need to understand whose interests they serve and what they are really deciding.

It is a story about the human need to share information and make sense of one another. The tools have changed, but the instinct remains the same.

Trust Forward is a podcast from Sumsub, AI-powered trust infrastructure for compliance operations at scale, made in collaboration with This is Distorted. Every story here is really a version of the same problem playing out in a different era. Today it plays out online, in the moment a business has to decide whether to trust a stranger on the other side of a screen. That’s the problem Sumsub exists to solve.

Sumsub's Website: sumsub.com

Sumsub's LinkedIn: linkedin.com/sumsub

Sumsub's Instagram: instagram.com/sumsubcom

Sumsub on X: x.com/Sumsubcom

Sumsub's YouTube Channel: youtube.com/@sumsubcom

Mary-Ann Ochota on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mary-ann-ochota-frgs-9234aa61/

Tom Standage: https://mediadirectory.economist.com/people/tom-standage/

Cathy O’Neil: https://cathyoneil.org/

Professor Sophie Scott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sophie-scott-179b6610/

Resources for this episode can be found here: https://trustforward.sumsub.com/episodes/the-gossip-machine

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pirates may look like the ultimate outsiders. Lawless, dangerous and answerable to nobody. But a pirate ship could not survive without rules. There had to be agreement over food, pay, discipline and what happened when someone was injured. In a world beyond the reach of government, trust was what kept the crew together.

In this episode, Mary-Ann Ochota explores the hidden codes that hold criminal worlds together. Pirate historian Rebecca Simon reveals that the real pirate “code” was not a Hollywood fantasy, but a set of articles that governed life on board. They set out how spoils were shared, how decisions were made and what happened when someone broke the rules. Even Blackbeard, one of history’s most feared pirates, depended on discipline and intimidation as much as violence.

Those same questions continue in the modern underworld. Criminologist Federico Varese explains how criminal groups solve the problem of trust when they cannot rely on contracts, courts or public reputations. From Mafia families to gang initiations, he shows how shared crimes, rituals and the threat of violence can create loyalty and make leaving extraordinarily difficult.

Professor Sophie Scott explores why costly tests of belonging can bind people to a group, even when that group is dangerous. Together, these stories reveal the darker side of trust. It’s not simply something freely given, but something that can be demanded, enforced and used as a weapon.

Trust Forward is a podcast from Sumsub, AI-powered trust infrastructure for compliance operations at scale, made in collaboration with This is Distorted. Every story here is really a version of the same problem playing out in a different era. Today it plays out online, in the moment a business has to decide whether to trust a stranger on the other side of a screen. That’s the problem Sumsub exists to solve.

Sumsub's Website: sumsub.com

Sumsub's LinkedIn: linkedin.com/sumsub

Sumsub's Instagram: instagram.com/sumsubcom

Sumsub on X: x.com/Sumsubcom

Sumsub's YouTube Channel: youtube.com/@sumsubcom

Mary-Ann Ochota on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mary-ann-ochota-frgs-9234aa61/

Rebecca Simon: https://rebecca-simon.com/

Federico Varese: https://www.sociology.ox.ac.uk/people/federico-varese

Professor Sophie Scott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sophie-scott-179b6610/

Resources for this episode can be found here: https://trustforward.sumsub.com/episodes/the-code-of-the-underworld

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The best conmen never have to steal a thing. They just ask, and people hand it over.

In this episode, Mary-Ann Ochota tells the story of William Thompson, the original "confidence man," who spent the 1840s asking wealthy strangers a simple question: do you have the confidence in me to lend me your watch until tomorrow? Most said yes, and never saw it again.

Writer and psychologist Maria Konnikova, author of The Confidence Game, explains how the same trick has echoed through history, from Charles Ponzi's fake investment scheme in 1920s Boston to Victor Lustig, who once sold the Eiffel Tower for scrap metal. The method barely changes: give someone a reason to trust you, then use that trust against them.

It raises an uncomfortable question. If con artists are so predictable, why do we keep falling for them? Cognitive neuroscientist Professor Sophie Scott explains why humans are wired to believe people by default, and Maria, now a professional poker player herself, reveals what a table full of world class liars taught her about reading people, and being read.

It's the next step in a story about how trust gets built, and how it gets broken.

Trust Forward is a podcast from Sumsub, AI powered trust infrastructure for compliance operations at scale, made in collaboration with This is Distorted. Every story here is really a version of the same problem playing out in a different era. Today it plays out online, in the moment a business has to decide whether to trust a stranger on the other side of a screen. That's the problem Sumsub exists to solve.

Sumsub's Website: sumsub.com

Sumsub's LinkedIn: linkedin.com/sumsub

Sumsub's Instagram: instagram.com/sumsubcom

Sumsub on X: x.com/Sumsubcom

Sumsub's YouTube Channel: youtube.com/@sumsubcom

Mary-Ann Ochota on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mary-ann-ochota-frgs-9234aa61/

Maria Konnikova: linkedin.com/in/maria-konnikova-697256/

Professor Sophie Scott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sophie-scott-179b6610/

Resources for this episode can be found here: https://trustforward.sumsub.com/episodes/the-art-of-the-con

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.