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Comment by throwaway198846 | Hacker News Reader

throwaway198846

When was the USA a high trust society?

Parts of America still are high trust: https://qctimes.com/entertainment/dining/article_5371e735-53...

When Lee Kuan Yew visited London for the first time after World War II, he was impressed by the fact that it had unattended newspaper stands where people were trusted to take a newspaper and leave money: https://youtu.be/b_6H26fpZp8. As someone from a low trust society, I fully concur with his assessment that this was the mark of a truly “civilized society.”

These sort of unmanned roadside stands are all over the southern US.

In major cities? LKY was talking about an unmanned newspaper stand and cash box in Trafalgar Square. Would that work in Times Square today?

Would it work in Trafalgar Square today?

Probably. There certainly used to be places in London with similar systems not long ago.

That said, the UK is becoming lower trust.

We do have "little libraries" where anyone can take or leave books in many people's yards. But I haven't seen the honor system produce stands in urban areas for the past 10+ years.

We have a little honor system library in our neighborhood near the playground. But I’ve never seen anything like that in Baltimore, DC, or Philadelphia.

They are everywhere in Seattle. Some neighborhoods have them on almost every block. This had led to some creative variations on the concept, such as the Little Free Pantry, Little Free Art Gallery, Little Free Toolbox, Pottery, Boutique, Toybox, etc.

Not complaining. It’s a neat concept. And if you have a bunch of crap you want to get rid, it’s a lot of fun to build a big birdhouse looking thing, prop it up on the side walk, and keep it stocked with all the crap you don’t want anymore. This is why I created the Little Free Lumberyard to discard my woodworking offcuts. Seriously considering expanding into e-waste because it works so damn well.

I’ve seen them in Arlington, VA. Which is basically DC.

It’s good to see that’s still a thing in Arlington. But it’s basically the Palo Alto of DC. It’s one of the wealthiest counties in the country. I’m sure you could do it in Mclean or Great Falls too. Certainly, you could when I was growing up.

Literally bought pumpkins to carve, firewood for the stove, and a carton of eggs from unmanned ‘honor system’ roadside stands last year. All three made it easy, venmo code posted, boop, on your way.

> Venmo code posted

This is the mark of a low-trust society masking its issues with technological band-aids. In high-trust countries, you still pay exclusively with cash at these unattended roadside stands.

No, it's the mark of "many people no longer carry exact change." An unattended box of produce and a sign saying "please pay this code" still requires trust that people won't take the produce without paying.

No, it's just a cash replacement, the trust lies in expecting people to make the payment in the first place rather than just steal unattended goods.

How is making it easier to pay (cash is not as commonly carried) a mark of a low-trust society? The important part here is that the roadside stand is still unattended - it's still up to the purchaser to purchase instead of stealing.

Right after WW2, trust was way higher. There was a belief in common good and progress and all that.

Something tells me this trust evaporated once the Vietnam War was in full swing and the USA started murdering labor activists in South America.

In the General Social Survey, the share of adults saying “most people can be trusted” fell from 46% in 1972 to 34% in 2018, and Pew found the same 34% in a 2023 to 2024 poll. - https://www.pewresearch.org/2025/05/08/americans-trust-in-on...

I don't think we were ever a "high trust" society in the way that like Denmark is or something. But I'd find it hard to argue with the assertion that rather, the US has become increasingly more of a low trust society recently, more than we already were.

Obviously subjective, but I would argue it was higher before stores began putting the items behind glass/locks.

Sort of, but there's a difference, the rise in anti-shoplifting stuff is in contrast to a decline in things like burglar bars. Stealing from residential property is seen as mostly the domain of drug addicts. Stealing from a multi-national corporation doesn't have the same stigma.

It's not a matter of stigma, it's a matter of lax enforcement. The majority of shoplifting is done by organized criminal gangs. They'll do it if they can escape without serious punishment, regardless of any stigma.

https://www.inc.com/bruce-crumley/shoplifting-gangs-have-pla...

High property rights, low crime rates are [among others] is textbook definition of high trust societies. It doesn't matter whom it's from.

You know, back when it was a noble democracy where all men were free, or something.

Being a high trust society isn’t the same thing as being a fully egalitarian society.

Getting to “high trust for the majority” is the 0 to 1 of civilizational development. Most societies never get there—they’re low trust for everyone.

Given your username, you're not going to like the answer to that question.

What do you think my username mean? Some kind of a dog whistle? In reality it is me misremembering 196884 from monstrous moonshine.

Up until the Powell memo.

Back during the Red Scare obviously \s

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