Some 9 million people have been banned from purchasing plane tickets to travel out of China because of their bad behaviour as reflected in their Social Credit Score. If this sounds familiar to you, you are probably drawing some similarities from the scene in Black Mirror where Lacie had to be “a 4.5” before being eligible to buy a larger house.
China has made this episode (Nosedive, S03E01) of the fictional Netflix series non-fiction with its implementation of the Social Credit System. This Orwellian nightmare, powered by the use of big data, will track everything from your online rants to your relationships, even casual ones, to eventually create a comprehensive credit score system that will go so far as to determine your children’s educational opportunities.
Since Big Brother is evidently watching (and rating) you in China, we have created a quiz that could potentially measure your Social Credit Score (and hence your socioeconomic status) based on your daily activities both on web and in real life if Big Brother were to make an appearance in our very own nation as well.
Find out your Social Credit Score here!
[DISCLAIMER: This is not a Singapore government initiative. It also does not follow China’s Social Credit System guidelines.]
Quiz Maker – powered by Riddle
Indeed, China’s Social Credit System could be a harbinger for the future that lies ahead of not just Singapore, but the entire world. While this system is a mass invasion of privacy and representation of the death of freedom, is it truly so much of a sin to breed a nation full of righteous and helpful citizens? After all, one of the reasons why China has implemented this system was to prevent any more food safety scandals among other dishonest acts like leaving fake product reviews and avoiding tax payment.
If this were implemented in Singapore, we’d have fewer jaywalkers, reckless drivers and PMD riders hence reducing casualty count as many would be more mindful to not break the rules in fear of jeopardising their future opportunities. Punish the bad, reward the good — isn’t that the mantra of pretty much every other system we already have?
Perhaps we need to dig a little deeper and ask the more important question: Would the authorities truly ever have to resort to this if we were willing to do the responsible, morally right things on our own accord?
By Rachel Lim
