Sometimes in Singapore, we wish that the state or system would uphold some form of social justice. But when some country really do it, it seems scary.
As a Singaporean, we grow up with our NRIC like it is the norm, but in some countries like US, it is often seen as a form of intrusion of privacy. And to some others, it may even remind them of how Nazis tracked Jews and foreigners and gave them IDs.
And again, even after knowing all that, I still feel ok with NRIC and feel that it is one of the good thing that makes the Singapore efficiency work.
So I wonder, how bad is this ‘social credit’ system really?
Personally, I am concerned with two things:
1. Manipulation of the system can mean cause people to be denied access to basic amenities such as high-speed rail transport. Abuse.
2. While the intents may perhaps be good, an attempt to institutionalise ethics, can good behaviour be truly inculcated in this way?
Or perhaps it is not so important as long as the outcome is good behaviour, much like a huge part of the legal system. You may still want to steal, as long as you don’t the law leave you alone.
While not ideal, perhaps if this can give some respite to today’s crazy where people go at each other over traffic, or try to shoot each other (‘s plane) … maybe it is the better of the two evils?