272
13 Democratic Capitalism
if you had a high Credit Score, you would get all sorts of goods and services—
basically everything you wish. If you had a lower score, you would get some goods
and services, but if you had a low Credit Score, you would have to live with what is
left over. This is, what we call triage: some people would be “chosen” and some of
them would be tolerated (they may be lucky sometimes), but some people would be
doomed. There would possibly be a certain score below which one could not survive.
The Chinese Credit Score is largely behavior-based. He or she who does exactly
what the government demands may hope to become a “chosen one” some day.
However, as this is a neo-feudal pyramidal concept, there would not be a lot of
them.
It is clear that the Chinese Credit Score is more a control system than a reward
system. And it would be even more so, when the production capacity of the system
was re-adjusted to meet sustainability goals.
18 This would mean to reduce production
by one third (at least). You can imagine that a lot of people would then be doomed, and
the Citizen Score could very well decide about life and death. Given this perspective,
it is high time to think about an alternative, fair monetary and economic system,
which would work for all of us, or at least for most of us, and which would also make
the planet more sustainable.
13.2 Democratic Capitalism
In the past, our society was run by several different operating systems: One was
culture, one was law, and one was capitalism. Now, we have also algorithms (“code
is law”).
19 Unfortunately, these operating systems are not only mutually inconsistent
many times—they are also often contradictory. It is therefore expected that these
systems would not coexist for long. They would potentially interfere with and damage
each other. Eventually, one of them may dominate or even destroy all others, and it
may not necessarily be consistent with the legitimate foundation of our society: the
constitution.
Figure 13.1 illustrates on the left the society we used to have. Democracy was
the framework, and the economy was one institution that contributed to its wellbeing. Capitalism was a “subroutine” that was running the economy. Other spheres
of society—politics, law, media, science, health, religion etc.—were run by different
subroutines. While the goal function in the economy was profit, the goal function
of politics should have been human dignity. Law should have established justice,
science should have revealed the truth, the media should have exposed it, the health
sector should have tried to ensure human well-being, and religion should have cared
about spiritual matters. However, the disruptions by the digital revolution have largely
dismantled the old fabric of our society and its organization into separate spheres,
which once ensured that we achieved the different goals that mattered for society.
18 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_Development_Goals.
19 Lessig [1].
13 Democratic Capitalism
if you had a high Credit Score, you would get all sorts of goods and services—
basically everything you wish. If you had a lower score, you would get some goods
and services, but if you had a low Credit Score, you would have to live with what is
left over. This is, what we call triage: some people would be “chosen” and some of
them would be tolerated (they may be lucky sometimes), but some people would be
doomed. There would possibly be a certain score below which one could not survive.
The Chinese Credit Score is largely behavior-based. He or she who does exactly
what the government demands may hope to become a “chosen one” some day.
However, as this is a neo-feudal pyramidal concept, there would not be a lot of
them.
It is clear that the Chinese Credit Score is more a control system than a reward
system. And it would be even more so, when the production capacity of the system
was re-adjusted to meet sustainability goals.
18 This would mean to reduce production
by one third (at least). You can imagine that a lot of people would then be doomed, and
the Citizen Score could very well decide about life and death. Given this perspective,
it is high time to think about an alternative, fair monetary and economic system,
which would work for all of us, or at least for most of us, and which would also make
the planet more sustainable.
13.2 Democratic Capitalism
In the past, our society was run by several different operating systems: One was
culture, one was law, and one was capitalism. Now, we have also algorithms (“code
is law”).
19 Unfortunately, these operating systems are not only mutually inconsistent
many times—they are also often contradictory. It is therefore expected that these
systems would not coexist for long. They would potentially interfere with and damage
each other. Eventually, one of them may dominate or even destroy all others, and it
may not necessarily be consistent with the legitimate foundation of our society: the
constitution.
Figure 13.1 illustrates on the left the society we used to have. Democracy was
the framework, and the economy was one institution that contributed to its wellbeing. Capitalism was a “subroutine” that was running the economy. Other spheres
of society—politics, law, media, science, health, religion etc.—were run by different
subroutines. While the goal function in the economy was profit, the goal function
of politics should have been human dignity. Law should have established justice,
science should have revealed the truth, the media should have exposed it, the health
sector should have tried to ensure human well-being, and religion should have cared
about spiritual matters. However, the disruptions by the digital revolution have largely
dismantled the old fabric of our society and its organization into separate spheres,
which once ensured that we achieved the different goals that mattered for society.
18 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_Development_Goals.
19 Lessig [1].