China's Orwellian Game is Terrifying

And it will be mandatory soon.

China Just Launched the Most Frightening Game Ever — and Soon It Will Be Mandatory

China has apparently launched a game that is somewhat modeled after the Credit Score and indeed, it will track your purchasing power and the financial risk associated with providing you with a loan. However, the game known as "Sesame Credit," also goes further by monitoring and tracking how good you are at being a citizen. Posting comments on Social Media websites that go against the party leadership's wishes, like discussing the Tiannamen Square Massacre or the Shanghai Stock Collapse, will result in negative hits to your score. And the game goes further because you will also be docked if your friends post negative comments as well.

People are already starting to post their Sesame Credit scores online and this will further incentivize individuals to act "appropriately." Journalist Zheping Huang noted the effect on his own personal experience: "Even if my crappy credit score doesn't mean much now, it's in my best interest I suppose to make sure it doesn't go too low."

And soon, in 2020 to be precise, the game will become mandatory.

I must admit that I am somewhat torn about this idea. On the one hand, such a subtle and pervasive influence on the lives of citizens in order to force them to conform into a more ideal citizen, according to the Government, is absolutely terrifying.

But this is an age of big data and social media. Your life is (or will be very soon) public enough that nearly everyone can learn about you in some form of fashion. What if we could use that to nudge people's behavior? What if we could cut down on internet trolls and racism by tracking and publicizing instances where people act in abhorrent manners? I fully recognize that the slope is extremely slippery, but at the same time, it seems somewhat inevitable.

MrT said:

I must admit that I am somewhat torn about this idea. On the one hand, such a subtle and pervasive influence on the lives of citizens in order to force them to conform into a more ideal citizen, according to the Government, is absolutely terrifying.

But this is an age of big data and social media. Your life is (or will be very soon) public enough that nearly everyone can learn about you in some form of fashion. What if we could use that to nudge people's behavior? What if we could cut down on internet trolls and racism by tracking and publicizing instances where people act in abhorrent manners? I fully recognize that the slope is extremely slippery, but at the same time, it seems somewhat inevitable.

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Another strike in favor of a hypothesis of mine: American society is extremely conformist, we just can't decide what to force others to conform to.

Whenever any subject or discussion comes up in regards to China, always preface and conclude it with one reminder - China is the largest dictatorship in the world today, or that has ever existed. If that is done, all else in search of the answers becomes clear, and any who detract from that show what side of freedom and human liberty they side with.