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A certain social score has progressively been rolled out over the past few millennium. It began in the granaries of Mesopotamia and the Yellow River, and nowada
by vorg 9y ago
A certain social score has progressively been rolled out over the past few millennium. It began in the granaries of Mesopotamia and the Yellow River, and nowadays only a few tribal people aren't part of it. It's known as "money" and currently measures how well people work, sell, save, invest, not get caught, and other such characteristics. It's stacked because people's opening balances are fixed by birth rite. Because of the existence of different currencies and asset classes, it's been controlled by a loose consortium of various central banks and regulatory authorities. This Social Credit Score in China to supplement its People's Currency (Renmin Bi) merely changes the ranking criteria and governing authorities involved. There's no new paradigm here.
- xster 9y agoI love how straight-faced and dark this is. You sir are a poet. Please accept my reddit fake gold as a token of social approval.
- infinity0 9y agoThe ranking criteria is literally everything. To dismiss this as "merely" changing the ranking criteria is a false oversimplification. If no ranking criteria exists then everyone would literally treat everyone else exactly the same and the world would be a boring and informationless place. You are welcome to propose non-linear (e.g. multidimensional) ranking criteria however. But even with money, it is not literally the be-all-and-end-all of life, there are many things where you need more than just money, to be able to achieve.
- lazerpants 9y agoThough I enjoy your example, and see your point, claiming that money is the same as China's social credit score is disingenuous. Money is not entirely centralized, you can spend it as you like, negotiate prices without government interference, and move it between people without the government deeming it acceptable. Other people can make you rich, the government doesn't get to tell them they cannot give you money. Your analogy dovetails nicely with arguments against cashless societies though, as it would be easy to implement a centralized authority over currency clearing using a social rating system and centralized authority over banks.
- ralusek 9y agoThis is a very edgy post but is comparing two completely incompatible concepts.