Corona and the Challenge of Human Chains of Trust

tl;dr: Like the kids’ game of “telephone,” verifying claims about coronavirus treatment and prevention plans is risky because it relies on a human-centric “chain of trust.”

I’ve resisted writing about the novel coronavirus.

There are plenty of other people doing that and it’s not like I have any expertise. Also, I prefer to not play the newsjacking game. It’s time-consuming and I’m not good at it.

Yet, there are plenty of examples from this pandemic that remind me of the core challenges that our society is facing, one of which is the post-truth world.

Brands are about Trust

The one that came to mind recently was the highly acclaimed letter from Delta with an explanation of how they were keeping planes clean and safe. Amtrak and others sent them out as well.

On the surface, these brands appear to be doing the right thing. I want to believe that the people writing these notes, which I’m sure are comprised of large teams of marketers, comms/PR, lawyers, execs, and others genuinely want to “get it right.”

They want to save their businesses and jobs, of course, but I also think they probably do care about having sanitary, safe planes and trains.

The challenge comes from the “chain of trust” that is necessary to not only make, but deliver on these promises.

Consistently delivering on a promise is the essence of a good brand, as far as I understand it.

Chains of Trust

I’ve never worked for a major global airline like Delta or a national carrier like Amtrak, but let’s think about some of the steps that have to occur to deliver on the promise of “the planes are clean.”

First, a group of people (AI can’t do this yet, I don’t think) has to come up with a plan for what exactly the company is going to do to keep the planes sanitary.

Then, they have to…

• figure out what the necessary supplies are (assuming they are available, e.g Lysol is in shortage now).
• ensure that they can get all of the supplies
• develop the cleaning protocols for the plane
• train the staff to actually clean the planes as instructed
• verify that the staff has cleaned the planes as instructed

and they have to do this for every single plane in the fleet everywhere.

Then, the verification that the planes have been completed need to be communicated to the higher-ups with “87% of planes are clean according to new protocol” or whatever.

And then those people need to have the ability to verify that claim.

That gets further rolled up to the CEO.

At each layer, there are spreadsheets, emails, and humans.

It’s a human-centric and human-dependent “chain of trust.”

There are a large number of steps and a lot of effort to test and verify any claim about the cleanliness of a given plane. And the people who send the email to you and me are, most likely, not the ones cleaning the plane.

Human-Centric Chains of Trust

The challenge for Delta planes or Amtrak trains is that there are not only multiple steps, but multiple humans.

These people, who are-again- well intentioned and earnest in their desire to do the right thing are dealing with their own issues.

Leaving aside the significant issue of their legitimate concerns about their own families and health and the economy, they are worried about their jobs. It’s not like the transportation industry looks strong right now. Layoff are not inconceivable.

They are tired and stressed.

Then, they are getting inundated from all sides with “updates” and “requests for updates.”

You’ve seen the multiple emails come in with attachments. Imagine the inbox”

• “latest cleanliness report from European planes”
• “latest cleanliness report from US planes”
• “latest cleanliness report from European planes v2…”
• “latest cleanliness report from US planes….use THIS one”

Meanwhile, the spreadsheets are proliferating into a version control hell.

It’s confusing and chaotic.

More importantly, the person getting these emails is constantly in a state of uncertainty about what is, well, accurate and true.

At some point, the CEO says, “we need to send an update NOW.” The email goes out and the information is accurate…mostly, we think.

Again, this isn’t the fault of these brands or the people writing them. It’s about the Systems of Trust that require multiple individuals and organizations, based on people-powered processes and rules.

We all may FEEL better about having an email from Delta. But we don’t actually KNOW since Delta can’t PROVE that the plane you get on (assuming you are willing to do that), is actually clean.

Non-Human Chains of Trust

There is no way that I can see how a blockchain could solve this problem today, especially given the time constraints.

But it is illustrative for me of the kinds of problems that public blockchains seek to address.

By giving anyone, anywhere the ability to verify a claim (“the plane is clean”) as true, without the need to trust anyone else in the middle, we remove these challenges.

Bitcoin showed it’s possible for money (even if it’s volatile) and other blockchains show it can be done as well.

The “flippening,” if you will, is the transition from a world of defaul “trust, but verify (sort of)” to one where it’s “don’t trust, verify.”

It’s so sad what is happening now. The lack of trust people have in China, Trump, WHO, pick your entity is further exacerbating the problem because no one really knows what to do.

Absent a 100% verifiable way to substantiate a claim, the uncertainty and fear has room to grow.

I hope everyone stays healthy and safe.