From 2020, each resident of the Middle Kingdom will receive a personal rating, on which his rights, privileges, and, by and large, freedom will depend. China is mentally ready for a digital dictatorship for a long time. Soon it will be ready and technologically.
Which list to whom?
When talking about the social rating system that the Chinese have been testing since 2014, they tend to recall the episode of the third season of the series "Black Mirror". His heroine lives in a society where everyone has an electronic reliability rating, with any contact they give each other ratings, and when the main character arrives at the airport to fly to her best friend's wedding, she is denied a ticket because of her falling rating.
However, in China, things are a little more complicated. They want to build a system in which not people will evaluate the behavior of others, but artificial intelligence. First, he is unbiased. Secondly, it does not make mistakes.
Now the project is being tested in pilot mode in 40 cities of the country. If you pay taxes, loans or alimony on time, volunteer, donate blood as a donor, then you will be awarded points - welcome to the "red" list! If you do not comply with financial obligations, behave rudely in public transport, violate traffic rules (even just cross the street at a red light), insult users on social networks, and even more so commit socially dangerous acts - they will write down a minus to your karma and bring into a black list. From now on, you will be denied entry to luxury hotels and restaurants, your children will not be admitted to a private school, the carrier will not sell you a ticket to a sleeping car, and you will be inspected by customs more carefully than others. And they will also refuse to issue you a subsidy or a loan and will not be hired by a government agency.
For trustworthy representatives of the red list, there is a whole range of incentives, even if some of them may seem ridiculous. These people are allowed to use public bicycles for longer, borrow more books from the library, undergo free medical examinations and receive all kinds of discounts and bonuses - for buying groceries, paying for heating, etc.
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Why don't they mind?
The social rating system is gaining in scale in China. It includes new departments and companies. Last year, 17 million Chinese were denied plane tickets and 5.4 million were unable to purchase high-speed train tickets. All of these people had a low rating and were classified as unreliable, mainly due to unpaid taxes and fines. All in all, 14 million citizens and private companies were included in all kinds of "black" lists.
Of course, the Western media are horrified by the system invented by China (or rather, by its Communist Party). After all, it restricts a person's rights and subjects him to total control. However, the Chinese themselves, as shown by a survey conducted by foreign sociologists, support the idea. 80% of the population approves the introduction of ratings to assess the reliability. Moreover, these are mainly educated urban residents with a high level of income.
The reasons for approval are rooted in both the Chinese mentality and the perception of current problems. As Confucius taught, the most important qualities of a righteous person include honesty, benevolence and a desire for justice. The inhabitants of the Celestial Empire are used to putting the public good over personal gain. However, in today's Chinese society, the level of mistrust and suspicion has grown dramatically. This is considered one of the main problems in the country. Therefore, a significant part of the population does not mind if the authorities act in the role of Big Brother and slightly tighten the screws. And the declared goals of the project are consonant with the expectations of the majority. This is an improvement in the moral character of citizens, an increase in patriotism and a decrease in crime.
How to bring the country under control?
Starting next year, the social rating system will become centralized and all residents of China will be controlled. Each citizen's score will be measured in real time. But how to do it technically? Chinese engineers and IT developers have an answer to this question. There are many ideas and technologies presented to the service of Big Brother.
For example, the country has established a mass production of cars equipped with geotags. They contain devices that themselves send various information to the competent authorities. This can be data about the location of the car, its speed and route. It is clear that now if the traffic rules are violated (driving under a "brick", making a U-turn in the wrong place, speeding) the driver will not be able to avoid either a fine or getting into the "black" list.
It is not the first year that China has used tracking systems built on neural networks, and, therefore, capable of self-learning. With their help, law enforcement officers not only solve crimes, but also predict where and when the next crime will be committed.
Thus, 176 million video cameras have been installed in the country, and another 500 million will be added to them in a year. All of them are connected to face recognition systems equipped with artificial intelligence. Such a system is able, for example, to calculate suspicious passers-by by their behavior and gait and send a signal to the nearest area. And in some Chinese provinces, even street patrols are equipped with augmented reality glasses capable of recognizing faces.
Video cameras, allowing to identify citizens wanted by the police, are now in all concert halls and other places of mass performances. Intelligent algorithms track the slightest offenses, up to picking flowers from a flower bed. The identity of such a person will be instantly identified and added to the "black" list. CCTV systems are used even when entering public restrooms to prevent visitors from stealing toilet paper.
Artificial intelligence analyzes not only people's faces, but also purchases, acquaintances, the place of stay of a particular person, his behavior on the Internet - posts, comments, likes … Depending on the information collected, a conclusion is made about the reliability of a particular citizen.
Developers of mobile applications are not far behind. Commissioned by the Chinese Communist Youth Union, an application was written that allows everyone to track their social rating. Students are awarded points for the publication of a scientific work, registration of a patent or volunteering. This is beneficial when interviewing an employer, renting an apartment, obtaining a visa, or buying online courses.
Another application allows you to complain about negligent fellow citizens - those who evade financial obligations or violate public order. For this, the sender is added points to the rating. Does this seem shameful to you? But the Chinese don't think so. For them, mutual control and denunciation (it is difficult to find a word with a positive emotional connotation in Russian) is quite natural. After all, we repeat, the public is above the personal.
While the social rating system is still failing. For example, an actress, whose photo was pasted on buses as an advertisement, received huge fines for crossing the street incorrectly. It turned out that the video tracking system took her portrait for a living person. But there is no doubt that the Chinese will cope with these problems.
Author: Dmitry Pisarenko