Trust Forward
Trust Forward is a six-part podcast series hosted by anthropologist and archaeologist Mary-Ann Ochota. It explores how trust works as an invisible force that holds society together, tracing its evolution from the invention of money and the Scientific Revolution to conmen, pirates, spies, and today's digital world. Each episode features conversations with experts such as poker players, astrophysicists, mafia specialists, and cryptographers. The series asks how we build the invisible agreements that support civilization, and how we decide what and who to believe. It is produced by Sumsub, a compliance technology company.
Episodes
The Code of the Underworld
Pirates may look like the ultimate outsiders. Lawless, dangerous and answerable to nobody. But a pirate ship could not survive without rules. There had to be agreement over food, pay, discipline and what happened when someone was injured. In a world beyond the reach of government, trust was what kept the crew together.In this episode, Mary-Ann Ochota explores the hidden codes that hold criminal wo
The Art Of The Con
The best conmen never have to steal a thing. They just ask, and people hand it over.In this episode, Mary-Ann Ochota tells the story of William Thompson, the original "confidence man," who spent the 1840s asking wealthy strangers a simple question: do you have the confidence in me to lend me your watch until tomorrow? Most said yes, and never saw it again.Writer and psychologist Maria Ko
Trust Me, I’m a Scientist
Science is meant to be ruled by reason and evidence. But for centuries, only certain people were trusted to practise it.In this episode, Mary-Ann Ochota takes us to Cambridge in 1897, where crowds gathered on the streets to protest against women being allowed to earn degrees. Journalist and author Angela Saini explains how the Royal Society, founded in 1660 on the radical idea of testing claims ra
Money Is A Made-Up Thing
Money only works because we all agree to believe in it. It's not backed by gold, or by anything you can hold, but by trust. And that trust had to start somewhere.In this first episode, Mary-Ann Ochota takes us back roughly two thousand years, to a Roman trading site buried beneath a working farm in Yorkshire. Guided by archaeologist Dr Brendon Wilkins, who's spent the last decade excavating the si
Trust Forward - A History Podcast - Coming September 1st
Trust is one of the strangest things about being human. It's completely invisible, entirely made up, and yet it holds all of society together.Every time you hand over cash, cross the road, or click "buy," you're taking a small leap of faith that the whole system will hold. These are systems we've quietly built to make life with strangers possible. But trust is fragile, it has to be maintained or i
