"I trust you" isn't meaningless, though it is weird to say
it basically means "I can have an unquestioning attitude around you in this situation because I trust that either things will go well or if not we'll be able to navigate it together"
or "I have no relevant distrusts"
QT:
twitter.com/nat_sharpe_/status/1692015111081533915< well, no, it could also be naive trust or forced trust or whatever, not non-naive as the above implies >
you can't name all of the things you trust, because there are too many! implicitly, when we're interacting, we're trusting each other in many ways
even in relatively hostile interactions, we sense the bounds of how bad things will get
oh shit wait. also, naming all of the things would actually be paradoxical because it would call them into question!
imagine you visit someone and they say "I trust you not to try to steal my cat" like bruh that was not even on my radar until you mentioned it
but @nat_sharpe_ is right about "I trust you"—it *is* a weird phrase. in some sense, it NEEDS to go without saying. like "I am very wise"
"I trust you" is thus always in response to some sense of possible distrust present, otherwise it would paradox
shared sense of possible can be
- explicit ("don't bother asking him" "ok I trust you")
- implicit (*hands keys to friend* *a look* "I trust you")
but "I trust you" is still sort of unnecessary to say
much more useful is to let it go without saying, and say "I don't trust you in this way" when THAT needs saying. and there, be as specific as you can
< it can be hard to be very specific sometimes, since things are weird >
sometimes saying "I trust you" is actually saying "I am preparing to be betrayed here" with an anticipation of blame. that is basically a loan of trust, and perhaps it benefits from being vague