Political Credit System

[eyeball]

China has instituted what it calls a Social Credit System.  Using a combination of mass surveillance, AI, public praise for good behaviour and public shaming for bad, its designed and intended to improve public morality and manners.  Apparently, according to China's leaders at least, the vast majority of Chinese people support the idea.

I've long championed the idea that we should basically do the same thing in Canada except that the cameras and AI and what have you should be aimed at the upper echelons of our governments instead of us.

I subscribe to a trickle down theory of decency which basically states that concentrating accountability at the pinnacles of our governments will cause decency and honesty to trickle down through the society they govern.  Sort of the way wealth is supposed to trickle down when its concentrated into as few hands as possible...in fact I'm quite certain a lot more wealth would trickle down if we instituted a Political Credit System similar to China's except achieving results from the top down instead of the other way around.  My system should be much smaller and less expensive - monitoring a few thousand politicians across the country instead of 35 million people sounds a lot easier.

How much does anyone want to bet that China's leaders would take a dim view to my system being imposed on them? Any bets that our leaders will resist just as hard...for the same reason as China's?

The biggest and most important divide that needs to be closed in our world is the one between those who govern and those who are governed.  AFAIC it's of far greater importance than the divide between rich and poor.

[dialamah]

I like it in theory, though I must say I get tired of the years or decades old "bad behavior" used to discredit someone in our current surveillance system.  I think there should be some kind of limit, unless its something like rape or murder.  But thoughtless comments or minor gaffes should be off-limits after 2 or 3 years, imo.

[Argus]

Lefties love the idea of punishing those they don't share their view of moral virtue. I guess that's why they've always been so sympathetic to Communist regimes.

China’s new ‘social credit system’ is a dystopian nightmare

Imagine calling a friend. Only instead of hearing a ring tone you hear a police siren, and then a voice intoning, “Be careful in your dealings with this person.”
Would that put a damper on your relationship? It’s supposed to.

Welcome to life in China’s “Social Credit System,” where a low score can ruin your life in more ways than one.

Say you arrive at the Beijing airport, intending to catch a flight to Canton 1,200 miles south. The clerk at the ticket counter turns you away because — you guessed it — your social credit score is too low. Not only are you publicly humiliated in the ticket line, you are then forced to travel by slow train. What should have been a three-hour flight becomes a 30-hour, stop-and-go nightmare.

All because the government has declared you untrustworthy. Perhaps you defaulted on a loan, made the mistake of criticizing some government policy online or just spent too much time playing video games on the internet. All of these actions, and many more, can cause your score to plummet, forcing citizens onto the most dreaded rung on China’s deadbeat caste system, the laolai.

A low social credit score will exclude you from well-paid jobs, make it impossible for you to get a house or a car loan or even book a hotel room. The government will slow down your internet connection, ban your children from attending private schools and even post your profile on a public blacklist for all to see.

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

Edited May 20, 2019 by Argus

[dialamah]

54 minutes ago, Argus said:

Lefties love the idea of punishing those they don't share their view of moral virtue. 

Why are you attacking the left?  It's not as if righties aren't all too happy to punish those who don't share their view of moral virtue.  Just consider Alabama with its recent decision to punish doctors who perform abortions.  And did you know that Harper imposed his view of abortion on third-world countries?  Ask yourself what conservative politician or Christian voter wouldn't find it acceptable to impose their morality when it comes to gay marriage, gay sex, transsexuals and transvestites?   And what of right-wing dictatorships - are they any less prone to morality policing their version of morality than China?

Also please note that neither the OP nor my response talked about surveilling the general public, but about surveilling leaders.  Perhaps you could try responding to what was posted instead of taking hyper-partisan swipes at lefties.