Jul 22 2024 64 mins
Much has been made in Western media about the Chinese social credit system. It's been painted as a totalitarian form of surveillance akin to 1984, where all citizens are tracked, monitored and ranked according to an arbitrary set of rules set up by the state. It's seen as something to be feared, something that could be coming to your country and taking over your life sooner than you think. But the truth of the real social credit system may be a lot more banal. From mistranslations to misunderstandings, let's delve into why the social credit system may be the thing the west has got wrong about China the most in the past 100 years, and why Chinese people might even welcome such an overbearing measure into their lives.
Chapters
(00:00) Introduction
(04:25) What's in a name?
(07:04) Historical precedents and inspiration for the social credit system
(17:25) The Social Credit System[s]
(42:42) Emergent problems
(50:00) The problem of perverse incentives
(56:47) Public reception to the SCS
(1:01:11) Final Thoughts
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