What If Everyone Had a Trust Score Above Their Head?

One morning, a number appears above every head: your Trust Score. Dogs are 100. The cat is 4. Andy is a 58. And the smooth "financial advisor" sitting at Grandma Dot's kitchen table is a 97. But the number doesn't measure honesty. It measures how much people believe you. So what happens when the most trusted man in the room is the one you shouldn't trust at all? Real science inside: how well people actually spot lies, why confident people get believed, and why trust takes years to build and seconds to lose. 0:00 The man with a 97 0:25 The rules 1:00 Meet Andy (58) 1:28 Grandma Dot (99) 1:49 Monday: life with numbers 2:54 The honesty tax 3:15 Can we actually spot a liar? 3:54 The dog park 4:10 Low numbers 4:48 Thursday: Mr. Hale 5:24 The bank 5:59 Raising the number 6:19 Friday: the bus 6:39 A rumor with a shape 7:07 Everyone in one room 7:43 Mr. Hale arrives 8:28 That evening 8:54 Next morning Would you want to see everyone's Trust Score? Or would you rather not know your own? Tell us in the comments. Subscribe for part two. Sources: Bond, C. F., & DePaulo, B. M. (2006). Accuracy of deception judgments. Personality and Social Psychology Review. Price, P. C., & Stone, E. R. (2004). Intuitive evaluation of likelihood judgment producers: evidence for a confidence heuristic. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making. Slovic, P. (1993). Perceived risk, trust, and democracy. Risk Analysis. Federal Trade Commission (2025). Annual report to Congress on protecting older adults (fraud losses 2020–2024). All characters and events in this story are fictional.