Even if the world is indeed becoming a more trusting and less violent place as it becomes more commercial, that does not mean that commerce is in itself either the only way to make the world trusting, or enough on its own to create trust. As well as new tools, there had to be new rules. The innovations that made the world nicer, it may be argued, are institutions, not technologies: things like the golden rule, the rule of law, respect for private property, democratic government, impartial courts, credit, consumer regulation, the welfare state, a free press, religious teaching of morality,
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