The mind that evolved for small groups and immediate dangers is now asked to manage a pension. It does its best. The evidence here is thinner than the confident commentary suggests, and the honest position is a shrug with a direction of travel. If you want to see trust at work, watch a queue form where there is no reason for one. Consider the school run. It is a small thing, and small things are where habits live.
Where it overreaches
Every one of us runs the same shortcut, and every one of us believes we are the exception. The usual story is that we are careless calculators. The better story is that we are careful about the wrong things. The lesson is modest. Build for the person who exists, not the one in the model. Ask most people why they did what they did and they will give you a reason; ask them again a week later and the reason will have quietly changed.
