Have you been paying attention to the social credit system that is being used in China? It's being picked up by a South American country now too, although I don't remember which. The system uses a variety of measures to rate people as to their social value, and since the government is doing it, this largely means that you are rated on your willingness to do as you are told and to think the way the government wants you to think. China's system takes into account, not only your own words and actions, but those of your family, so this enlists family members in helping to keep people in line. Minor infractions, like traffic tickets, are also taken into account, and things that you might do or say that the government approves of might increase your score. Your social credit rating is used to determine what jobs you can get, and even whether or not you are permitted to travel, obtain a business license, get credit, or even get married, as the government is encouraging people to use the credit score in determining marriage possibilities. China hasn't fully implemented it yet, but they have already banned millions of people from flying or traveling by train on the basis of their social credit scores. Of course, we have a credit system here that can also be unfair, and employers and landlords are increasingly scrutinizing social media posts, so we're probably not far away from someone putting it all together and implementing such as system. My guess is that when we do it here, it will be supported and used by the government but it won't be an openly government program, at least not right away.
These things always depend on whether you are inside the tent or outside the tent. "It’s probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in." - Lyndon B. Johnson
I just watched a documentary where North Korea allowed one of our journalists in to the country to stay for 2 weeks and ''see how they all live''... it was fascinating and really depressing at the same time. They were like robots, obeying the law and the word of the government and being ''rewarded' with food or land to till, and grow food as long as they obeyed the word of the government. These people were under no illusions they'd won the war against America.. because they had been told that by their government. They had no access to the internet, or social media of any kind, in fact we got the impression they didn't even know it existed, no ordinary citizen is allowed to leave the country . Every child must learn in class to Speak English, and they are very good at it too, yet they will never be permitted to visit any English speaking country. They were delighted when Michael spoke to them, and they were able to reply to him in English, but his question were severely curtailed, so he was only permitted for example to ask teenagers, to point out places on a Map and pronounce them in English. ..just as you would a 5 year old everywhere there was posters of the leaders, and as one of his guides told him, they would never dream of criticising their beloved leader because '' the leader is them, and they would be therefore criticising themselves, which they would never dream of doing''... It was difficult for Michael to get any questions answered, because as soon as he asked anything about the government in any way, even the most innocuous questions the shutters came down , and people clammed up. There are next to no vehicles on the roads, even tho' they have 6 lane highways... It was carefully prepared for a farmers' wife to invite him into her home for dinner, but it was clear that he was being led to believe that food was plentiful now which it hadn't been in the 90's.. but the truth is, it really isn't. The farmer had been given a pretty little house by the govt because '' I do everything that is requested of me by my leader''.. she even had a picture of her family some years ago being given a basket of fresh fish by the 'leader''..for '' being a good citizen'' ..where she commented, ''to this day I still can taste that fish''.. No meat or fish is available to them, they have to live from what they grow, potatoes, tomatoes, root veggies and little else!! In her home, there was no furniture at all, everyone sat on old carpeting on the floor, not even a cushion. Further to that , even when Michael was in the city of Pyongyang we didn't see one department store of any kind, not one take away type restaurant or anything similar television, newspapers and radio is state controlled.. The shocking and sad part of it all apart from the soldiers everywhere, is that these people truly believe they are the ones who have won their freedom.
Very good post, @Holly Saunders. Scary, isn't it? Scarier yet, I can see it happening here, although not exactly the same, of course. We like to do things, so I would expect it to become a part of our credit score.
It's yet another weird oxymoron on this grand stage called life and freedom. Freedom isn't free, yet, we claim it to be a right. Though they are forced to be enslaved and kept ignorant, people all over the world work and fight their entire lives just to taste some semblance of freedom. They pay a hard price indeed for that small taste. Yet, as of late, there are those in the free world who want everything free and are not willing to pay for anything they deem as a right so for the lack of knowledge and the need to work for it, they are willing to place themselves into slavery and will call it freedom.
I can tell you..if in my life time this happens here...they will shoot me . I buck at authority in many ways..I am every big corporations nightmare and this always caused problems...lolol for them I would rather be dead anyway if this was all there was to look forward to.
Was good to find this discussion. I am pretty deep into the subject, and will toss out a controversial comment. U.S. Social Credit System before 2005. No, not just bits and pieces, but a full fledged legal system, that follows the Chinese model. The basics, here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Credit_System The timing may be advanced or delayed, depending on the progress being made in Artificial Intelligence. We have a head start based on accumulated information. Far out, but imagine the library of congress being converted to random access memory. Back off that, to see how easy it would be to convert all records, everywhere. To make it more real... imagine your personal life records from everywhere... being incorporated in to and accessible by a single click , School and grades, bank and credit, work record, legal record from birth to today, friends, relatives, health records (forever), travel, driving, organizations, phone records, voting records, and the thousands of places where your name has ever appeared... information ad infinitum. To see just a tiny part of the interest in this, search "social credit system" to find nearly 800 million hits. Do a news search for the term... just for the past week, to see just how deep the U.S. government is already involved. To add just a little bit more... I haven't yet decided whether the benefits will outweigh the negatives. Imagine an America, without crime... criminal or financial. A safer driving and travel system... honesty in politics... a quantum leap in medicine and health... Imagination uncovers a thousand more benefits. YMMV... but, hopefully an approach with an open mind, based on knowledge, and not instinct.
As long as there is a human element, that utopia will remain imaginary. And thank goodness for that. And yes, data mining of our information has been going on for some time now. If you have Netflix, I highly recommend the documentary "The Great Hack." "Data is the most valuable asset on earth."
In 1967, I entered into the U.S. Army. When my MOS (military occupational specialty) was assigned, it came with a 20 year background check in order to establish a confidential security clearance. (Which is crazy because I was only 17 at the time so the check was from birth til I entered the military) Later, as the need became apparent, I was given a secret clearance and even later, a top secret clearance which demanded yet another, more concise check than the first one. My point is this: If, in 1967 the records were such that I could have a confidential security clearance, imagine what information is already being compiled about every citizen of the U.S. using present day technology. The information is already there, in some computer, waiting to be used.
Did you know that the military outsources background checks? One of our larger clients, when I was doing background checks for a living, was the military; another was Blackwater. I had always thought that Army Intelligence would be doing that, although they may well supplement what we were doing.
To some degree, I suppose I did and do, now that I think about it. A confidential clearance is comparatively easy to get and has only a couple of demands that have to be checked out but anything higher involves the FBI and whatever information they can dig up. I have had a reason in the past to invest in a data sharing group whereby any background check is made available for a price so it does stand to reason that the checks would be outsourced since these background people seem to be civilian data corporations. And let’s face it, “Military and intelligence” are two words that just do not seem to fit together no matter how many times or fast a person says it.