‘What is Truth?” asked Pilate in his interrogation of Christ. Back in the innocent times of 2005, television comedian and political commentator Stephen Colbert coined the term “truthiness” for people making up their own cosy realities that feel “truthy” enough to work. Sometime Trump spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway gave us “alternative facts” in 2017. Since then, you would have to be gobsmackingly obtuse not to have noticed what an adipose froth of lies, propaganda and spin social media has become: mainstream politicians embrace QAnon and antivax conspiracies for votes. We’re all going to hell in a handbag, and now the virtual Uriah Heeps of generative AI seem to have cut the brake cable.
Into the fever dream Jimmy Wales’s The Seven Rules of Trust trickles as a cool spring of sanity. Wales, Wikipedia’s founder, should know about truth. Almost since it was created, educators were warning us that the online encyclopedia’s collaborative model was unreliable as a source. These days, it seems almost a quaint reminder of what the internet could have been: free, collaborative and democratic, and in a tsunami of AI-generated pabulum it may be the only remaining online repository of information where there are rules for consistency and humans still check things occasionally.
What Wales is saying isn’t necessarily that profound – it’s common sense, back before that also became a euphemism for homespun ignorance. He points out that human society cannot function without trust, whether it be in individuals, media, politicians, institutions, academics or each other. He writes from the position of having steered Wikipedia to the position of trusted public authority (your mileage may vary) and what he learnt on the way.
Leaving aside whether that’s an accurate perception or not, what he’s offering is useful, practical, actionable advice on building trust. Wales’s prose is lucid, uncomplicated and mercifully free of jargon. He wants to do for the general public what Jacinda Ardern did for politics.
“This book,” says the accompanying marketing material, “will help you become a trust-maker. To build deeper connections with others so you can be a better neighbour, a more understanding friend, even someone who can turn back the tide and inspire others to follow you. If you want to strengthen your relationships or simply bring more happiness and fulfilment into your life, then this is where to start.”
All good, but often Wales reads like his intended audience is more the sort of Silicon Valley techbro for whom basic human things like empathy, mutual respect and humility are foreign concepts. These are not world-shattering revelations to most: trust is won and lost, person to person; human nature is to collaborate, so work with that; people respond to a clear, positive goal. That sort of thing.
Wales has distilled everything he has learnt in the process of building and popularising Wikipedia, observing, engaging with thought and business leaders, with lots of truthy anecdotes and quotes from magazine profiles. Sometimes, Wales is a little too idealistic about how well his own baby works. He claims its rules are flexible, developing like English Common Law, and not to worry because all versions are saved. However, if you’re like me and enjoy clicking the “talk” on controversial entries to see the carnage, it sounds a little out of touch with how the sausages are made. Hobby horses abound; whole edit wars are fought over a subjective interpretation of these flexible rules.
Wales’s book is a valuable read for anyone as a refresher in the principles of honest and upright dealing, and the kind of respectful interaction not often modelled by many of the people of the greatest influence, but the most intriguing possibility is that Wales’s reputation brings it into corporate circles where capitalism is fuelled by deception, illusion, distraction and corner cutting. In that sphere, such mantras have been cynically chanted before. I’m old enough to remember when pre-Alphabet Google’s motto was “Don’t be evil” and Kevin Roberts’ Saatchi glory days promoting the twaddle of “Lovemarks” – a branding philosophy of creating consumer respect and emotional connection, which tended to obscure some of those companies more problematic resourcing and employment practices.
Wales should be compulsory reading for anyone in journalism. Public trust in media organisations has taken a battering in the past few years, and online media platforms occupy a space comparable to Wikipedia in terms of acting as a collaboratively gathered and authoritative source of information. Wales is clearly an earnest believer in his medicine, but is he our secular Jesus among the modern Pharisees, or is he just casting his pearls of wisdom before capitalist swine? For the latter, I hope not.
Regardless, when all is said and done, Wales’s message is more concisely distilled to the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would be done by.
