From Gordon Drennan
In your article about trust, the authors describe how in an experiment half the players were willing to hand money over to an unknown stranger in the hope that it would later be returned, and that three-quarters of those strangers did indeed return the cash (10 May, p 32).
Perhaps because they were looking for something else, the authors miss the obvious conclusion that is good news in a world where we are deluged with bad news every time we turn on the TV or read a newspaper. People are more trustworthy than they are trusting. That is, we underestimate how good other people are.
Ultimo, New South Wales, Australia
