nosediving into a dystopian society.

What if I told you that the Hunger Games were being considered in modern day society, or that the system of Gilead will be implemented this year. You would tell me I am crazy. Unfortunately I'm not.

(WARNING: [minor] Black Mirror spoilers ahead!)

Episode 1, season 3 of Black Mirror titled 'Nosedive', sees Lacie, a sweet, average American woman who is a victim to a system in which her privileges and status are determined by how other people rate her based on daily experiences they have with her. For example, after ordering some coffee at a cafe, the barista scores her 5 stars out of 5 stars based on the small interaction he had with her while handing her the coffee she ordered.

The average of all these ratings determines a person's benefits, whether they qualify for things like loans, whether they can enter a building or not and their general standard of living.

The rating system also establishes a class system in which people with lower scores are not as "quality" as those with higher scores. This means that those with higher scores are more important than those with lower ones and since everyone can see everyone else's scores, your worth and whether a person will associate with you or not depends on your rating, favouring those who already have high scores and therefore have a better or 'richer' lifestyle and disadvantaging those who do not. This serves to confine people to the lives that they have by allowing the rich to remain rich and the poor to remain poor.

[ People with low scores are essentially discriminated against and are treated unequally. ]

What makes this episode so frightening is that it has parallels to the society we live in today where, to an extent, social media likes, followers and subscribers determine our personal worth and status. What makes it even more scary is that China is implementing a system very similar to the one depicted in Black Mirror.

The Social Credit System:

ABC News describes the Social Credit System as "a personal scorecard for each of China’s 1.4 billion citizens." Citizens with higher scores "get VIP treatment at hotels and airports, cheap loans and a fast track to the best universities and jobs." Whereas those with lower ones, "can be locked out of society or barred from getting credit or government jobs." Sound familiar?

The scores depend on even the littlest of details such as what products one chooses to buy, what is browsed on the internet and even who one associates with.

A government official had this to say about the system in general:

“It will allow the trustworthy to roam freely under heaven while making it hard for the discredited to take a single step.”

The similarities between this score system that China hopes to have fully implemented by next year and the rating system depicted in Nosedive are blatant and clear and are cause for genuine fear of the effects it will have on China's population.

Effects:

- These effects could again be conforming the poor to staying poor and the rich to remain rich, possibly increasing the gap between the rich and poor.

- Creating a class system supported by the Government, allowing people with lower scores to be discriminated against.

- Inequality on a wide scale by giving benefits to those with higher scores only such as security, resources (like quality education, medical care etc.) and probably even determine how much one's pay is.

- Children will be disadvantaged from the very start of their lives depending on their parents' scores.

- Finally, by lowering the scores of people like investigative journalists who uncover corruption, the Chinese Government could successfully censor any negativity towards it, blinding its citizens and putting an end to free speech.

What now?

While there is not much that we can do to stop this system, we must learn from it. We must realise the impact that social media, ratings, scores - whatever you want to call it - will have on us and society.

Us millenials are very aware of what is going on around us and we don't accept whatever people in power throw our way. Therefore, I believe it is important to be aware of this.

Do you think more aspects of dystopian societies depicted in movies and books will become a reality?

Stay woke.

- Siya

Source: https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-18/china-social-credit-a-model-citizen-in-a-digital-dictatorship/10200278?pfmredir=sm&sf197878142=1&smid=Page%3A%20ABC%20Australia-Facebook_Organic&WT.tsrc=Facebook_Organic&fbclid=IwAR1eiJG-W3lCnyM6A1a0htPIatxwjOQDCj9YEUe4GZZ9WODFCJKqbOjIhEg