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The Jordan Harbinger Show

1251: Jimmy Wales | Building Trust the Wikipedia Way

The Jordan Harbinger Show

Jordan Harbinger

Business, Education, Science

4.8 • 12.1K Ratings

🗓️ 4 December 2025

⏱️ 104 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We're living in parallel realities with different "facts." Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales breaks down how trust eroded — and how we might restore it.

Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1251

What We Discuss with Jimmy Wales:

  • Wikipedia succeeded where its predecessor failed because it prioritized making contribution enjoyable. Nobody truly works for free — people need intrinsic rewards like connecting with fellow enthusiasts, intellectual satisfaction, and the joy of building something meaningful together.
  • The global crisis of trust stems from people living in parallel realities with different "facts." Productive discourse becomes impossible when opposing sides can't agree on basic data — like immigration numbers — before debating policy solutions.
  • "Assume good faith" isn't just a Wikipedia policy — it's a life-changing mindset. Most people making mistakes aren't malicious; they need guidance. Approaching others with initial trust creates positive cycles, whether parenting teenagers or managing remote teams.
  • Trust isn't built through perfection — it's built through transparency, especially when you have something to hide. Organizations that acknowledge mistakes, explain their processes, and openly work to improve earn more lasting credibility than those claiming flawlessness.
  • Want to make a meaningful impact? Just start. The next five years will pass regardless of what you do — so test your ideas early, embrace potential failure as learning, and remember that trying something that doesn't work still beats endlessly planning something you never attempt.
  • And much more...

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Welcome to the show. I'm Jordan Harbinger. On the Jordan Harbinger show, we decode the story

0:07.4

as secrets and skills are the world's most fascinating people and turn their wisdom into

0:11.2

practical advice that you can use to impact your own life and those around you. Our mission is to

0:15.9

help you become a better informed, more critical thinker through long-form conversations with a

0:19.7

variety of amazing folks,

0:21.2

from spies to CEOs, athletes to authors, thinkers to performers, even the occasional drug trafficker,

0:26.4

former jihadi, economic hitman, or national security advisor. If you're new to the show or you want

0:31.3

to tell your friends about the show, and I always appreciate it when you do that, I suggest our

0:34.7

episode starter packs. These are collections of our favorite episodes

0:37.6

on topics like persuasion and negotiation, psychology and geopolitics, disinformation, China,

0:42.7

North Korea, crime and cults, and more. That'll help new listeners get a taste of everything we do

0:46.6

here on this show. Just visit jordanharbinger.com slash start or search for us in your Spotify

0:52.1

app to get started. Today we're talking to the man who helped

0:54.7

build the only corner of the internet that somehow still works. Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia,

1:00.7

patron saint of actually let me check on that, and proof that trusting strangers on the internet

1:05.0

can create something other than a raging dumpster fire. Wikipedia is one of the last places

1:10.7

online where the wisdom of

1:12.1

crowds consistently beats the stupidity of mobs. It's a site you can edit in your pajamas at three o'clock

1:17.2

in the morning, yet somehow it's more accurate than newsrooms with multimillion dollar budgets.

1:21.9

It's the place where passionate volunteers, many of whom could give Harvard professors a run for

1:25.7

their money in bridge engineering or ancient

1:27.5

Sumerian pottery collectively create an encyclopedia bigger than anything the Britannica editors

...

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