In China by 2020 all of it's citizens will be participants in a social credit system. This is one of the first implementations of cyberocracy. Many articles have discussed the dystopian vision by this system but in this post I will take on another angle and present a thought experiment.
What if the government scores us all in secret?
As much as many Americans or other citizens may look in horror at the overt social credit system implemented in China there is at least the benefit that the Chinese know what they have to do and who they have to be to stay on the good side of the Chinese government. The score exists and allows for a feedback loop if you can see how your behavior influences your score just as being graded provides a feedback loop where over time you can learn to get better grades
In the United States or under any government how can we know how our government thinks about us? How can we know for sure there isn't a classified score applied to every citizen where each of us are rated between "good" and "evil" on a secret spectrum and then organized according to secret criteria? We simply don't have a way to know whether or not this is already happening but we do know that these governments of ours collect enough data to easily create a classified citizen rating system.
Being disliked in secret is in many ways worse because you have no way to understand any negative treatment you receive. With a score then your status (how the government views you) is quantified and you can at least know that. Which is worse? Being ranked in secret on a secret classified scoring system or being ranked in public on a public scoring system?
I would say you can make an argument that it is better for the scoring to be public and the criteria known than for it all to be secret and the criteria unknown. I will post more on this topic in the future but for now what are your thoughts?
since the premise is itself a fallacy, it needs to be addressed first to fix the consequences of the latter
debt based economic models are enslaving, today the world debt is almost 5 times the world GDP, so anything built upon such a system can only be unethical. If the world was ever repaying all its debts there wouldnt be any money left in circulation. Banking interest rates is paying for the right to use central banks' notes. Usury is a capital sin in a many religions. So the world is ruled by criminals and wealth is an illusion. Boom-bust cycles are wealth transfer in favor of the rich.... until humans wake up, it will go from bad to worse... humanity lives in a prison without bars, we all are free range chickens. Yes, AI will become the ultimate trap, a cyber prison, in this scenario... wars can only be made possible by putting the taxpayers in deep red ink on top of that. Right now billions of dollars are being poured into AI weaponry...
Yes, this is the mass profiling civilization. It looks like more of a mark of the beast app to me and I hate that they are calling it Social Credit; a currency idea that came of Alta. mid-century (and quite a good idea).....
But, yes, public would be better as long as we get to see their scores, too! Otherwise, fuck 'em!
As @earthcustodians points out, there are forces that already view certain groups of people as less than or unworthy. Many of these forces are of those who have. Here in the U.S., the government is more attentive and responsive to the needs of the 'haves'. The 2014 Harvard study shows a near zero correlation between what the people what and policy passed by congress.
When you view this in the lens of Credit-ratings and how the wealth has been redistributed to the elite, I believe the "social credit" is already being applied, if only in a more unofficial role. The 'haves' are given more and the 'have-nots' have what little they have taken from them and is given to the 'haves'.
I believe we can change this and overcome but first comes with an understanding of what's wrong. This story I think captures this sentiment well.
Thank you @dana-edwards for the heads up.
I'll take option #3. I'll opt out and not participate in either system, thanks.
We are not cattle. Freedom has a definition & it does not include gov control IMHO