The Decentralists – Episode 2: An Interview with Dr. Chris Rowell

On this episode of The Decentralists, we are joined by Dr. Chris Rowell from the University of British Columbia. Dr Rowell teaches at the Sauder School of Business and is an expert on digital trust. His research is focused on strategy and innovation, with a particular focus on blockchain and other technologies which have the ability to disrupt established information technology architectures.

What does trust have to do with all of this?

The digital world  has changed the nature of trust. Companies like Uber and Airbnb have convinced many of us to share cars and houses with strangers—and we’re not just trusting strangers, we’re trusting Internet companies (which collect our data) with all of our personal information. 

On the Internet, how does trust work? How does anyone create a digital system of trust? Who should we trust?

If the business model of most Internet companies depends on collecting our data and then selling that data to the highest bidder—how trustworthy can they possibly be?

Dr. Rowell notes that as decentralized ledger technologies (such as blockchain) become more important, the nature of digital trust is bound to change.