Once upon a time, people in small tribes had to know and trust one another with high accountability towards each other. As cities became larger, people did not know each other and accountability was lost, leading to fraud and mistrust.
In a world where we move countries more than ever before, work as freelancers, trade with strangers and make friends online, we need our reputation to travel with us, so that we can prove who we are and why we can be trusted and viceversa.