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I thought Nosedive was more of a "Look what we might turn into" thing. The government didn't have much to do with it (except dragging her away when she has a kn
by dave_sullivan 9y ago
I thought Nosedive was more of a "Look what we might turn into" thing. The government didn't have much to do with it (except dragging her away when she has a knife). It was a defacto dystopia. For instance, that truck driver who ditches the system isn't getting tortured as a dissident by the gov.
China's vision is much worse.
* Everybody is measured by a score between 350 and 950, which is linked to their national identity card. While currently supposedly voluntary, the government has announced that it will be mandatory by 2020.
* The system is run by two companies, Alibaba and Tencent, which run all the social networks in China and therefore have access to a vast amount of data about people’s social ties and activities and what they say.
* In addition to measuring your ability to pay, as in the United States, the scores serve as a measure of political compliance. Among the things that will hurt a citizen’s score are posting political opinions without prior permission, or posting information that the regime does not like, such as about the Tienanmen Square massacre that the government carried out to hold on to power, or the Shanghai stock market collapse.
* It will hurt your score not only if you do these things, but if any of your friends do them. Imagine the social pressure against disobedience or dissent that this will create. Anybody can check anyone else’s score online. Among other things, this lets people find out which of their friends may be hurting their scores.
* Also used to calculate scores is information about hobbies, lifestyle, and shopping. Buying certain goods will improve your score, while others (such as video games) will lower it.
* Those with higher scores are rewarded with concrete benefits. Those who reach 700, for example, get easy access to a Singapore travel permit, while those who hit 750 get an even more valued visa.
* Sadly, many Chinese appear to be embracing the score as a measure of social worth, with almost 100,000 people bragging about their scores on the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.
From http://boingboing.net/2015/10/06/reputation-economy-dystopia-c.html http://boingboing.net/2015/10/06/reputation-economy-dystopia...
- taneq 9y agoLet me guess, scores above 950 are reserved for heads of state, and anyone with a score below 350 is executed?
- tomaskafka 9y agoWhy execute, when you need a stream of desperate people as super low cost factory or military slaves.
- CodeCube 9y agoAs an aside ... I find it curious how common the phrase, "Chinese equivalent of Twitter" is. I know the brand is probably not well known in the US, but is it that much of a stretch to imagine people would connect the dots if they say something like, "social media site, Weibo"? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- hueving 9y agoOn a western-centric site it's the easiest way to convey the size of the user base relative to the population and the type of social media. Many people have heard very little about Weibo so saying that by itself doesn't carry as much meaning and the name is irrelevant to the discussion.
- seppin 9y agoAll social media in China, Russia, etc. were copied from Western companies to begin with, so what's wrong with the comparison?
- ThomPete 9y agoNot sure I see the difference.
- 77pt77 9y ago> get easy access to a Singapore travel permit You need a permit?
- dmoy 9y agoA Chinese national cannot leave China without permission. When you leave, before going through security you go through emigration control. Maybe that's what GP is referring to. Right in practice this doesn't matter so much.... As long as you're not a dissident of course :/
- dis-sys 9y ago> The system is run by two companies, Alibaba and Tencent, which run all the social networks in China and therefore have access to a vast amount of data about people’s social ties and activities and what they say. obviously not true, Alibaba tried numerous times to gain some market share in social media, but all their attempts failed.