TRUST / 2030
What is the future of trust?
Trust is an integral part of society. Trusting allows us to live more efficiently and progress faster. Almost every area of life involves an element of trust. Our economy relies on trust in the banking system and in currency. Our health relies on trust in medical science and its practitioners. Our relationships rely on trust in each other and our shared values.
Societal trust has evolved from the days when we lived in small villages, when everyone knew each other and would be held accountable for their actions by neighbours. As societies grew beyond the scope of the small village, we began to rely on organisations like governments, unions and corporations to act as mediators of trust. We still rely on these centralised organisations today.
We have recently begun to see the disruption of some of these traditional institutions. The internet and the ubiquity of mobile devices has allowed us to connect directly with each other, although still through systems implemented by large corporations. The sharing economy is growing and we may reach a point where trust becomes more distributed, moving away from a centralised model.
Through this project we have explored some potential futures, looking at how changes in society may change the way we live our lives and the impact these changes may have on trust in the society of 2030.
2030 Society — Future Archeology
The everyday objects we surround ourselves with can tell us a lot about the nature of our society and our lifestyles.
The three speculative 2030 societies were explored through the kinds of objects that citizens would use on a day to day basis. The object tells its own story about life in 2030, and in combination they paint a richer vision of daily life.
The design of the objects, their form, materials and functions all tell us something deeper about the various aspects of trust in each of our speculative 2030 societies.
These objects should be viewed as a form of ‘future archaeology.’ What can they tell us about life in 2030 and how would we feel if our lives changed in these directions?
