The American Game: Let’s Build The Opposite of China’s Social Credit System
China plans to rank all of its citizens based on their “social credit score” by 2020. China’s residents cannot opt out of this social credit system, their actions are judged by an objective moral scale designed by the government, and it positions wrong-doers in a downward spiral that demands they rat out others to stop their fall. This social credit system will create a society of fearful rule-followers at the expense of building a long-term vibrant society.
China is rapidly building a terrifying future pulled from the darkest scenes of Orwell’s “1984” and Black Mirror’s “Nosedive.” Then we should build differently. The American Dream embraces empowered individuals, collaborative communities, and a belief that people hold a vast potential to build themselves better than their current circumstances. Technology and gamification has the massive potential to shape societies; we need to debate what rules we want to define the collective actions of our society.
Facebook has created social reputation scores while high Uber ratings mean shorter wait times for a car.
*As technology increasingly mediates interactions in our lives, we will need to have more explicit conversations on the rules that structure our society.
*Gamification What ways can we gamify our society in a way that holds true to principles that Americans hold dear?
Empower Individual Control
China’s social credit system is impossible for people to opt out of. Individuals have no idea of what data the government has and cannot consent to what parties can see their information.
It is useful to have a centralized data sharing system, but instead of ownership by the government this data should be controlled by each individual. In Estonia the government has no central or master database. Information on people’s taxes, education, and health are stored in different databases and linked together using X-Road. Individuals have complete control over who sees their data, and blockchain technology makes it difficult for anyone but the individual to see any data they should not without leaving a digital trace. This system allows data to be shared more effectively but in a way that allows individuals to retain control over this data.
Pathways to Improvement
Some of the things that users get in trouble for are bad driving, smoking in non-smoking areas, and buying too many video games. What if a driver had an emergency, or was unfamiliar with the rules? The current construction of the social credit system suggests that a first impression of a person’s actions can be accurately assessed by a single onlooker.
*Embedded in these demerits is the idea that a person’s motivations can be judged in a few moments by an onlooker that does not know that person’s situation. There is also the belief that a person should be judged on their actions — which combine their economic situation, genetics, relationships, rather than should be shown the pathways to be able to change. Instead of creating demerits for people who smoke, why not connect them with others nearby who are trying to quit to go on a walk?
Increase Access
If you are late on your rent in China, you might be blocked from being able to fly if you have not paid your rent on time. This places people who might suddenly have an illness in the family, who might have gotten laid off, or recently had a child, makes a bad situation worse. Over time this will create more homelessness. Instead, the country should help identify which people are going into a rough time and immediately give them services that can help them bounce back? What if the moment you lost your job, you were automatically enrolled in food stamps, connected to jobs you’re qualified for in your area, the owner of your apartment complex had to give you a three month “paused” period on your apartment payment, and you could suddenly access any retraining services in your city for free, immediately?
Creates a Society of Credit Seekers
One problem is that
Conclusions
*What pieces should be combined? Massive systems create massive power. When we design, we need to remember this. We should try to
Believes People Cannot Change
