China’s plan to organize its society relies on ‘big data’ to rate everyone
I feel like a crazy person every time I try to point out that North America is already there. We&#x27;ve just done it in a less reductionist manner, in which multiple scores are used for different purposes, because you can discriminate better with better targeted data.<p>The IRS rates you on likelihood of fraud, border patrol rates you on your likelihood of breaking residency law, the FBI rates everyone&#x27;s chances of being a terrorist, credit agencies rate your worthiness of a loan, insurance companies rate your chances of being a cost, banks rate your likelihood of paying a mortgage, your friends rate your worth and you let them, and if you&#x27;re in the media biz everything comes down to a numbers game. Your income is used to sort you into pidgeonholes in virtually every aspect of your interaction with every social institution.<p>Your worth as a human is already determined by a set of numbers; we&#x27;ve just done it so much better than China, because nobody noticed.