Can
you imagine a rating system being fully implemented into society that
is not only meant to establish your “trustworthiness,” but is available
for everyone to see? Well, China is seriously considering doing just that, as detailed in the State Council of China‘s document published in 2014 called “Planning Outline for the Construction of a Social Credit System.”
Though this hierarchal system is
currently voluntary, it is set to become mandatory in 2020. If you’re
getting sort of a deja-vu feeling, that’s totally understandable. The
system China proposed sounds eerily similar to an ominous social rating
system featured in an episode of the Netflix series Black Mirror, which depicted a chilling Big-Brother-type, social-media-obsessed future.
China Plans to Implement Social Rating System by 2020
First, let’s review the details of
China’s social rating system, called the “Social Credit System” (SCS).
Try to envision a world in which you’re constantly monitored, judged for
your actions, and literally evaluated based on every choice you make
and action you take.
There will be different categories that
you’ll be ranked on, including behaviour, personal preferences, and
interpersonal relationships. From the people you hang out with to the
amount of time you spend on social media and playing video games to the
types of purchases you make and how much debt you have, the world will
know. You can say goodbye to privacy under SCS, because Big Brother is
stepping in to monitor your every move.
Of course, a lot of this already
happens. Many governments including the U.S. already spy on their
citizens, social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram collect an
overwhelming amount of information on you, and Google is secretly
recording pretty much everything you do. Google keeps the texts/videos
you send and literally tracks your every move thanks to your trusty
Google Maps app (read more about that in our CE article here).
The primary issue with the rating system
is, not only are they monitoring citizens even more than they do
currently, which is already a substantial and arguably inappropriate
amount, but they’re labelling their actions as “positive” or “negative”
as well. Should we really be comfortable allowing the government to
dictate what’s right or wrong?
Sure, there are certain laws that are in
place for a reason, but ultimately the government does not always
operate in favour of society because they often put the needs of
corporations over the needs of their own citizens. Laws are often
heavily influenced by corporations whose main goal is profit, not the
betterment of humanity as a whole.
Many governments allow corporations like
Monsanto to fill our food supply with carcinogenic herbicides, they let
Big Pharma influence their drug approval processes and advertise drugs
to the public, and they allow the meat and dairy industries to dictate
what their food guides deem healthy for our bodies, despite going
against doctors’ recommendations.
This is precisely why rating systems in
societies could pose a huge problem: We all have different moral
compasses. Much of what the government does, you may not support. So,
what happens when you voice your opinion, particularly if it goes
against the government’s regime, in hopes of inspiring positive change
within society? Well, you could get a lower score, rendering you ‘less
trustworthy’ and ultimately affecting your ability to get a mortgage, a
job, a loan, etc.
Of course, you could decide to speak out
against them, and hope your rating wouldn’t affect your overall
wellbeing, but how would that affect your friends’ and family members’
ratings?
The Chinese government has described the system as a method to improve trust nationwide and cultivate a culture of “sincerity.”
The policy reads,
“It will forge a public opinion environment where keeping trust is
glorious. It will strengthen sincerity in government affairs, commercial
sincerity, social sincerity and the construction of judicial
credibility.”
According to the policy documents, if you receive a low score on the SCS, then you could face the following penalties:
- You won’t be eligible for positions in public office
- You will no longer have access to social security and welfare
- You’ll face stricter regulations and “frisking” at Chinese customs
- You’ll won’t be able to apply for any senior level positions in the food and drug sector
- You won’t be able to sleep in a bed in overnight trains
- You won’t be able to stay in higher-starred hotels and restaurants and will have more difficulty travelling
- Your children could potentially suffer because they won’t be allowed to attend more expensive private schools
It’s very clear that this ranking system
could create a lot of separatism and division, and allow the elite to
gain even more special treatment than they already enjoy. This type of
hierarchy is in no way conducive to equality, or a society that allows
love to lead their decisions. We do not need to implement social ranking
systems in order to increase sincerity within society; we simply need
to have more compassion for other people and treat them like equals.
The rating systems could seriously
halt our personal growth, innovation, and thirst for knowledge as well.
The government would be able to see exactly what books you’re reading
and what you’re researching, and if it goes against the grain or
challenges the current regime, then you could end up with a lower score.
How are we going to be able to grow as a society if we don’t question
the status quo?
We learn to improve ourselves by
challenging the current norms and by stepping outside of our comfort
zones. Renewable energy sources seriously threatened big oil and the
government, yet this field was able to grow and advance because experts
challenged our current energy system. We have made extreme advancements
in health care because people found flaws in previous practices and had
faith that they could improve them. This can be applied to quite
literally every single industry, which is why these ranking systems
could negatively affect growth, innovation, and our entire economic
system as a whole.
If we can no longer challenge our
current state of being and question our surroundings, then how can we
continue to advance as a collective? As a collective, many of our
strengths lie in our differences. A diverse society includes people with
all different strengths and brackets of knowledge, but if we’re all
racing to get a better ranking, then we could lose a lot of those
differences in trying to become “people pleasers” and adhering to social
norms.
How much could we be penalized for our
creativity and forward-thinking under social ranking systems? It’s
difficult to say. Perhaps there would be some benefits from this
particular system being implemented in China, but until it is fully
mandatory, we have no way of knowing the exact outcome.
China’s Social Ranking System Sounds a Lot Like This Episode of Black Mirror
Interestingly enough, an episode of the Netflix series Black Mirror could
give us some insight into how social rating systems could play out if
they become mandatory in the future. If you haven’t watched Season 3
Episode 1 of Black Mirror yet, titled “Nosedive,” I’d highly
recommend you check it out! The best part about this show is that you
don’t need to watch the episodes in order, so even if you’ve never seen
the series, you can still watch this episode without feeling lost.
The episode is entirely based around a
social ranking system that had been integrated into every aspect of
society, similar to what China plans to implement widespread by 2020
(though much more technologically advanced).
The episode focuses on a single social
media platform that allows users to rank one another. The higher your
ranking on this platform, the higher social class you find yourself in.
Your score determines your livelihood: your access to services, your
trustworthiness, your value, and your employability.
Your scores can also increase or
decrease astonishingly quickly. You could lose so much in an instant,
thanks to only a few people disliking you. You’re having a bad day, or
perhaps you’re struggling with your mental health? Well, that could cost
you your score, too.
The irony of this social ranking system was that it forced people to become insincere and disingenuous. Rather
than improving their sincerity like China hopes their program will, it
ended up encouraging people to simply play a “number’s game,” striving
to please others and doing anything they could to fit into society’s
norms.
The social ranking system depicted in Black Mirror just
forced people to kiss up to higher-ups, making their lives one big
popularity contest. The problem with this mentality is, if we’re not
willing to challenge our superiors and “the popular kids” and speak up
when we have genuinely innovative ideas or when we know something is
“wrong,” then we cannot grow as a collective.
Another issue with this form of social
ranking is that people could start to value themselves based on their
numerical ranking and how society views them. The entire point of self
worth is to determine how much you value yourself, not how much other people value you. It’s called self worth for a reason; you should not measure your worth based on society’s standards, but rather your own standards.
Final Thoughts
We’re human beings, we often make
mistakes, and in fact making mistakes can be a really beautiful part of
life because we can turn our “mistakes” and “failures” into learning and
growth opportunities. But, what if those mistakes became public? Would
we be willing to take as many risks?
Although there could be some upsides to implementing a social ranking system, the risks far outweigh those potential benefits.
So many of society’s problems today stem from our vying for social
status and power, or from people holding their status over others. We
certainly don’t need to add to this by further increasing separatism.
We need to encourage people to express
themselves freely, question everything, and drop the fictitious barriers
that social statuses create. We’re all human beings and we’re all
equals, regardless of our social class or potential future social
rankings.
If people start to value themselves
based on a ranking system that may not even be “fairly ranked” to begin
with, we will not become more sincere, we’ll just end up improving our
“people pleasing” skills. We need to encourage others to go within to
develop their self worth and build up their self love as well as express
their creativity and their views; otherwise, we’ll end up regressing as
a society instead of progressing.
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