Throughout the history of film and television, writers have explored the dangers and what-ifs of human society, when it is closely intertwined with technology. The Netflix anthology series, Black Mirror, is, “about the way we live now – and the way we might be living in 10 minutes' time if we're clumsy” says the shows creator, Charlie Brooker. Black Mirror presents itself as dark, satirical, cautionary tales about technology that play on one’s own uncertainty and unease about the present and future. This sense of unease is exacerbated since technology’s advancement is exponential, and although things appear to be in their infant stage, there is no knowing the future and how far away humanity is from the events in Black Mirror.
In the episode, Nosedive, society is driven by a person rating system, scaling between 1-5. The system is set up by people rating others based on their daily interactions and social media activity. We follow the main character Lacie, as she tries to boost her score in hopes to buy a nicer apartment. In addition to housing, scores also affect someone’s social standing, career, priority of medical treatment, ability to rent a car, and travel. Lacie is asked to be a childhood friend’s maid of honour who happens to be scored a high 4, which in being at this event would give lacie the boost she needs. She receives a few low ratings accidently making it harder for her to travel to the wedding. This consequently stresses her out, making it harder for her to keep up the happy, fun, kind facade. Throughout the episode, we see her score drop to a deplorable number as her poor peer ratings start to snowball. Eventually dropping to a zero, Lacie is thrown in jail and removed from the system; finally shown feeling the relief of being free from the ratings. While Nosedive appears satirical, this concept has already started to become a reality. In 2014, the State Council of China released a document called "Planning Outline for the Construction of a Social Credit System". Basically outlining the a system to rate its citizens. In 2017, China launched a social credit system called Sesame Credit. Alarmingly similar to Nosedive’s technology, Sesame Credit is a rating system used to measure a citizens trustworthiness. A person’s score is influenced by their financial statements, purchase history and patterns, whether you keep up with bill payments, who you are friends with and what they say or do, and whether your activity on social media conforms with the government. The penalties for breaking trust affect all aspects of life. Penalties for having a low trust score could impact where your children can go to school, your mortgage, ability to apply for loans, jobs, or rentals, throttled internet speed, limited access to restaurants and other leisure services, or loss of travel rights. Sesame Credit’s objective is to “...forge a public opinion environment where keeping trust is glorious. It will strengthen sincerity in government affairs, commercial sincerity, social sincerity and the construction of judicial …show more content…
Additionally, it gives the government more precise control and knowledge over its citizens and corporations. We worry about our privacy now more than ever with cameras and microphones carried by most people but, privacy no longer exists as we voluntarily give it up when it is advertised as entertainment.
The main difference between Nosedive and Sesame Credit is the fact that citizens cannot rate each other. Both affecting one’s privilege, accessibility, and social status. As the chinese government’s goal is to encourage trust among the nation, it may also endorse conformity. Similar to how many people in the Nosedive society did not appear as their authentic selves in order to boost their scores. Creating another way to compare citizens is also likely to increase competition in China. China already being one of the most competitive countries, with high pressures to succeed.
A large problem with Sesame Credit is that it does not leave much room for context. For example someone may miss a bill due to an emergency, but that does not make them distrustful, it just makes them human. With everything being taken into consideration to measure a score, the strictness of the system does not regard the nuances of human interaction that may fairy result in
In the episode, Nosedive, society is driven by a person rating system, scaling between 1-5. The system is set up by people rating others based on their daily interactions and social media activity. We follow the main character Lacie, as she tries to boost her score in hopes to buy a nicer apartment. In addition to housing, scores also affect someone’s social standing, career, priority of medical treatment, ability to rent a car, and travel. Lacie is asked to be a childhood friend’s maid of honour who happens to be scored a high 4, which in being at this event would give lacie the boost she needs. She receives a few low ratings accidently making it harder for her to travel to the wedding. This consequently stresses her out, making it harder for her to keep up the happy, fun, kind facade. Throughout the episode, we see her score drop to a deplorable number as her poor peer ratings start to snowball. Eventually dropping to a zero, Lacie is thrown in jail and removed from the system; finally shown feeling the relief of being free from the ratings. While Nosedive appears satirical, this concept has already started to become a reality. In 2014, the State Council of China released a document called "Planning Outline for the Construction of a Social Credit System". Basically outlining the a system to rate its citizens. In 2017, China launched a social credit system called Sesame Credit. Alarmingly similar to Nosedive’s technology, Sesame Credit is a rating system used to measure a citizens trustworthiness. A person’s score is influenced by their financial statements, purchase history and patterns, whether you keep up with bill payments, who you are friends with and what they say or do, and whether your activity on social media conforms with the government. The penalties for breaking trust affect all aspects of life. Penalties for having a low trust score could impact where your children can go to school, your mortgage, ability to apply for loans, jobs, or rentals, throttled internet speed, limited access to restaurants and other leisure services, or loss of travel rights. Sesame Credit’s objective is to “...forge a public opinion environment where keeping trust is glorious. It will strengthen sincerity in government affairs, commercial sincerity, social sincerity and the construction of judicial …show more content…
Additionally, it gives the government more precise control and knowledge over its citizens and corporations. We worry about our privacy now more than ever with cameras and microphones carried by most people but, privacy no longer exists as we voluntarily give it up when it is advertised as entertainment.
The main difference between Nosedive and Sesame Credit is the fact that citizens cannot rate each other. Both affecting one’s privilege, accessibility, and social status. As the chinese government’s goal is to encourage trust among the nation, it may also endorse conformity. Similar to how many people in the Nosedive society did not appear as their authentic selves in order to boost their scores. Creating another way to compare citizens is also likely to increase competition in China. China already being one of the most competitive countries, with high pressures to succeed.
A large problem with Sesame Credit is that it does not leave much room for context. For example someone may miss a bill due to an emergency, but that does not make them distrustful, it just makes them human. With everything being taken into consideration to measure a score, the strictness of the system does not regard the nuances of human interaction that may fairy result in