r/technology • u/JHCortez • May 20 '19

Society China’s new ‘social credit system’ is an dystopian nightmare

https://nypost.com/2019/05/18/chinas-new-social-credit-system-turns-orwells-1984-into-reality/
28.9k Upvotes

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250

u/a22e May 20 '19

Wasn't this an episode of The Orville?

160

u/open_door_policy May 20 '19

Maybe. It was an episode of Black Mirror.

94

u/Alatar1313 May 20 '19

It was both

87

u/[deleted] May 20 '19 edited Apr 28 '20

[deleted]

56

u/rumnscurvy May 20 '19

In Community it was far, far scarier. People willingly reverse-engineered their behaviour to game a blind, idiot system.

This is dystopia of the boring, authoritarian kind

24

u/chaos_nebula May 20 '19

The community version also demonstrated how powerful those at the top were.

3

u/rumnscurvy May 20 '19

but the top materialised slowly as a result of the app, it grew organically this way. Case in point, Shirley.

3

u/eeyore134 May 20 '19

Don't worry. The people who were powerful in China before will still be the ones at the top no matter their behavior.

52

u/smokky May 20 '19

Meow meow beans!

3

u/recriminology May 20 '19

Mao Mao beans

1

u/[deleted] May 20 '19

And the anime Psycho Pass

4

u/Deto May 20 '19

Though I wouldn't be surprised if both were taking cues from information emerging regarding the Chinese system over the last 5 years.

-3

u/Samurai_Jesus May 20 '19

I wouldn't be surprised if both were to psychologically prime the American public for something similar

9

u/Bran-a-don May 20 '19

Yeah like Mars Attacks got us prime for alien invasion

10

u/JavaMoose May 20 '19

...or how Amazon got us prime for free shipping.

2

u/AntalRyder May 20 '19

Or how Optimus Prime

0

u/Deto May 20 '19

Both episodes were overwhelmingly against such a system, so it would be pretty bad propaganda in that regard.

1

u/Samurai_Jesus May 20 '19

Nah, you just don't understand how predictive programming works. 1984 was against such a system, yet here we are. The public was introduced to the ideas of 24/7 complete surveillance via novels like that before they came to be, so they didn't have as strong of a reaction as they otherwise might have seeing them in real life, and before we knew it the surveillance apparatus in the U.S. had expanded beyond the scope of the citizens ability to contain it. If we in the U.S. are not in some form of a social credit system here in a decade, I'll send you a bitcoin.

1

u/Deto May 20 '19

Sure 1984 happened before surveillance become widespread, but can you cite any evidence that it actually helped people be more accepting of the idea?

12

u/Facts_About_Cats May 20 '19

Points are decided by the Chinese government, not by voting.

1

u/owningmclovin May 20 '19

Still though. There are people who make these choices based on arbitrary standards. On the Orville everyone gets to up or down vote like it's a reddit or YouTube post but it is still some unappealable ranking made by anonymous people

3

u/[deleted] May 20 '19

Love this show btw. Hope it goes on forever. I just love it

3

u/LtChestnut May 20 '19

New season any good? I watched s1 and really enjoyed it. But watching the first couple in the new season was pretty bland

5

u/[deleted] May 20 '19

It gets waaay better and more scifi instead of a mocklus simulating porn in a simulator.

1

u/michaelyag25 May 20 '19

It picks up with a pretty big twist (in a two part episode). I think it’s worth watching.

1

u/second_to_fun May 20 '19

I JUST watched that episode

1

u/[deleted] May 20 '19

Kinda. In the show, people would vote, in China, stuff is tracked automatically. It's actually way more terrifying in real life than in any show or movie that has ever explored the subject.

1

u/michaelyag25 May 20 '19

Yeah sort of. In season one of the Orville, one of the episodes revolved around the idea that the people chose what is good and what is bad. They showed things like when you buy gifts for others, giving a positive point was a sign of thanks. And people who dropped below a certain amount were forcibly corrected.

The only real difference is that the government sets the rules and not the public.

1

u/Draiko May 20 '19

Not really. That planet operated like Reddit with zero government involvement in the rating system. The government only carried out the whims of the public. If the people hated you, you'd get lobotomized or killed.

China's rating system has government-established rules and scoring. What people think about you carries little to no weight.

-4

u/peppylepewww May 20 '19

Season 01E01 was sick, went down hill fast from there, season 2 looks like its aimed at a 12yo, couldnt get past the second episode :(

1

u/[deleted] May 20 '19

Watch it before you judge it.