In different social sciences, medicine and the humanities, a variety of concepts are used to describe the human being in relation to others and to herself. This section provides insights and formulations of experts interviewed for this study. Four kinds of relations in technology environments are distinguished in these interviews: engagement, reputation, communion and use. Each of these four relations has psychological, sociological, philosophical, medical and cultural consequences. The first insights of the experts are described in their own terms.

There is a great difference in dynamics between relations that are based upon the possibility of a shared meaning, on use, on reputation or on engagement. Each kind of relationship offers different patterns of granularity in interaction with tune presences in distinct manners, which in turn define how trust may emerge.