1. The late stage of capitalism must have started back in Roman times, caveat emptor.

2. Most societies are low trust societies, with certain exceptions usually based on draconian law enforcement.

I don't trust a lot of thought was put into this article

I don't even think the examples provided are even what most people would call "trust" scenarios. In most of these examples we should have never ever assumed any trust on the other party in the first place.