Trust in a Technological Age: Kevin Werbach
We can clear up the smoke as much as possible, and we should, but it’s a mistake to think that we can just get humans out entirely. Instead what we need to do is look more closely at these mechanisms of governance, which of them can be automated, what are situations where we’re at different levels, we want to put mechanisms in place because that’s really how we’re going to get good results in the real world.
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Intro
In this episode of The Decision Corner, we are lucky to be joined by Kevin Werbach. Professor Werbach is a renowned expert on emerging technology and its implications in the legal and public policy spheres. He is a professor of legal studies and business ethics at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Prior to his position at Wharton, Kevin Werbach has been an advisor in the Obama administration and a member of Obama’s transition team. He is also a widely sought after writer and speaker. He has been featured on a diverse range of platforms and his academic work is cited in top publications. In 2018, he wrote The Blockchain and the New Architecture of Trust, where he explores the nuances and consequences of distributed ledger technologies. Some of the topics we discuss in this podcast include:
- Blockchain: what it is, where it is going, and how it impacts a wide range of industries and applications
- What international shipping, contact tracing apps, Facebook, and Uber have in common
- Kevin’s book and how it dissects the hype from the facts surrounding blockchain technology
- How blockchain can improve decision-making at a variety of levels
- Law, regulation, and governance as three key elements of successful blockchain implementation
- Human nature and how it can never be perfectly eradicated through technology
- How these technologies are establishing new patterns of faith
- The essential nature of interdisciplinary work at the frontier of invention
