OFF-TOPIC China's Social Credit System. Thoughts?

[SamuraiRod]

What was once thought of dystopian fiction is now a living breathing reality.

View: https://youtu.be/Dkw15LkZ_Kw


Personally, I felt disgusted watching this video. For the people of China and those of the government re-inventing a massive slave system. They mention in the video that minor infractions can cause heavy penalties to civilians.

Is there a possibility of this system crumbling in the future? Do you think more governments may adopt this system instead? Is there a deeper goal behind the implementation of social credit?

I have lived only 20 years on this Earth as of today, and know very little about dystopias, government crises or conspiracies for that matter. I don't fear the U.S. government, nor terrorists, nor globalization. But this is something that has me genuinely concerned about the future and well-being of the people on the planet.

 

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[Kybalion]

Why this slave ''system'' actually makes a lot of sense ?

Well, if You take a look into Chinese history and governing systems You will notice a couple of things, which will help to make sense of this situation and not to overreact.

First of all, Chinese operate on different set of values than westerners.

The World for them looks different, than it does for someone, who has been conditioned elsewhere.

For example, Chinese really like the idea of harmony. Seems nice doesn't it? Well, their interpretation of harmony radically differs from ours.

You see, Peoples Republic of China contains more than a BILLION people. To keep them all in place and somewhat satisfied You need harmony. And not the kind of ''we are all friendly and equal harmony''.

No, no, no. We are talking about ''stay the F*ck in Your place, government knows better than You'' kind of harmony. PRC has an authoritative government so it makes A LOT of sense.

And the crazy thing is - the government is usually right. The political candidates are selected in a very careful screening process. Only very,very smart and dedicated people become authorities in China.

So after, we got that out of the way, let's look at Your questions.

Is there a possibility of this system crumbling in the future?

The Chinese government has its power, because MOST of the citizens are very satisfied by the massive economic growth the government has provided. (that and also crazy violence, if necessary)

So as long as the government is capable of providing good living conditions for most of its citizens the system will stay somewhat stable and will not crumble.

Therefore, for this system to crumble China would need to enter some crazy economic crisis.

Do you think more governments may adopt this system instead?

Highly unlikely. For government to be able to push this, a country needs to pass multiple criteria.

1. It needs an authoritative government
2. It needs to have a loyal nation (MOST Chinese people are very satisfied, with the way things are)
3. It needs to be very technologically advanced.

If, there is a country like that then - yeah, government could adapt something like that.

Is there a deeper goal behind the implementation of social credit?

Sure! To control and condition a massive population of MORE THAN A BILLION PEOPLE. (In fact, we should all be glad, that PRC is doing such a good job at keeping its MASSIVE population in check)

So should You fear the future?

No. Fear will just hold You back. But what You can do is stay sharp, keep hustling, focus on Your zone of influence and get ready for the moment, when You will be the guy, who can actually do something about things like authoritarian Chinese governments.

Any thought or fear, that reaches outside of Your influence is a waste of mental space!

Cheers!

 

[Ninjakid]

This is something more characteristic of Chinese culture, and other East Asian cultures which were heavily influenced by Confucian thought (Japanese and Korean, mainly).

Chinese culture values the person who is humble, cooperative, and sees the individual more as a small part of the whole. Contrast this with American culture which is very individualistic and values the person who stands out from the crowd. Not saying either approach is better, both are ultimately approaches to a harmonious society and an actualized human being, but the difference exists nonetheless. You can see this reflected in the movie Hero *SPOILER ALERT*, when Jet Li's character sacrifices himself to the King for a unified China.

Adding to this is the concept of "face," which is essentially your reputation to the public. This has always been considered important, not just with the introduction of the social credit system. If you spend time around Chinese people, you'll often notice they're concerned with how others see them and if they don't like someone, they'll tend to do a lot of shit talking about them.

A few years back, one of my best friends broke up with his girlfriend, and it was a particular nasty breakup at that lol. So his ex essentially started a campaign of slandering him to all their mutual friends, including me.

Because his ex was my friend too, I initially listened to her when she talked to me, cuz hey, breakups suck and I figure she's upset so I'll be a good friend.

But it quickly became apparent to me that she wasn't reaching out to me as a friend, this bitch was looking for a pawn in her revenge slander plot. I've had a keen gift for reading people since I was a kid, and add to all the self-study on psychology I've done for the past 8 years, pretty much nothing gets past me. She'd constantly bring up stories which got worse every time. First he ignored her too often. Then he was sexting some other girl. then he stole money from her. Then he shoved her because she wanted him to stop playing video games. Then she'd start crying and trying to guilt me. "HOW COULD YOU STILL BE FRIENDS WITH HIM!!??"

Then the wheels in my brain start turning like, "why am I giving this lunatic validation to continue her lunatic-ness??"

Thing is I know both parties very well. At least three times before she has made shit up out of thin air. Once she got pissed at me because I invited some new friends to a party, and said Brian was mad because he didn't know the people. I call up Brian, not only did he not say that but he hasn't even talked to Loony Toons. And ultimately. Who. Gives. A. Shit. Anyways.

Another time she sends me a barrage of angry texts SUPPOSEDLY behalf of my friend who thought I ditched him when I made plans with him. WTF?? I call him up, same thing, not true, it's bullshit, I did nooooooot. Turns out she was just mad she couldn't come (she wasn't even in town).

So judging by my OWN history with her, I had no reason to believe anything she said was even remotely true, besides i can spot manipulation tactics all the way to the centre of Beijing.

I can't exactly remember my last words to her because I was so pissed, but it included encouragement for her to break a glass bottle and swallow the contents.

As a result, I've lost several friends because of her. They don't return my calls or texts. Whatever, don't really care. They make their choice, I make mine. Real G's do G shit.

Anyways...

Because reputation among your peers is so important in China, a standardized model for it strangely makes sense. Probably the way we see Mark Zuckerberg's VR. It's interested and probably very useful... But very very creepy.

If you can measure a person by a score, is there really any point in getting to know a person at all?

Essentially we just become robots jockeying for positions, but fitting like puzzle pieces and maybe having some hidden resentment/pride for where we stand.

It's a great way to take the beauty out of human relationships.

When it all comes down to it, we are sentient beings on this plane of existence and our bodies and minds are the avatars in which we navigate it. Our lives are the products of our essential nature manifested into this plane.

Trying to put a numerical value on our intrinsic value as sentient beings only brings us further from awakening as a collective consciousness.

Now here's what I didn't mention... China is a communist country. Communist ideology is anti-humanity by its very nature. If this score system is a plot to attempt to remove the humanity from t's subjects, which I'm very certain it is, then yeah that's a very scary concept.

EDIT: I just read over my answer and I noticed I didn't word something very well. I mentioned that if Chinese people don't like someone they tend to do a lot of shit-talking. This sounds like I'm painting Chinese culture in a negative and toxic light. THIS IS NOT WHAT I'M TRYING TO DO AND I'M SORRY IF IT SEEMS LIKE THAT. I'm saying a person's reputation is so valuable that IF YOU WANTED TO HURT SOMEONE, you could do it by slandering their name. Interestingly enough in South Korea, which is also influenced by Confucian thought and shares many of the same values about "face," defamation is a jailable offence. And in Japan, there's a very unique form of extortion which the Yakuza use which they agree to not publicly disclose embarrassing secrets about the company in exchange for protection money. It shows how conscious people are of their reputation.

 

[sparechange]

Take them for a helicopter ride

 

[jlwilliams]

I do think there will be more of this in other countries. It will take some years for it to be visible in Western countries but it will come.

It isn't "conspiracy theory" thinking to see this coming. The Chinese government is deeply authoritarian and as such are more visible, but governments by their nature strive to create order. Order being a nice way to say control. This system makes the masses jump right in line and do as they "should." Expect to see more control freaks (ie politicians) repackaging this idea to pitch it in other places.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

What was once thought of dystopian fiction is now a living breathing reality.

Yup, as I said before, our society is ONLY 1 degree away from all of technological dystopias fictionalized on the Black Mirror. Now we see that that small 1 degree gap has evaporated.

Holy Sheet! A SCRIPTED Twilight Zone? (Black Mirror)