[api]

I had the thought the other day that what we're seeing here in the West is like an informal version of China's social credit system, and perhaps that something like China's social credit system is almost unavoidable when everything is hyper-connected like this. This is what humans do, and when you connect them all at scale they do it at scale.

The specific mores and taboos don't matter. People get hung up on this being a "liberal" thing, but go to a very conservative part of the Borg hive mind and you get the same behavior. Criticize Donald Trump on Reddit's conservative forums and you are instantly brigaded, shamed, or banned.

[matt4077]

The mere existence of the emotion of „shame“ shows that this mechanism is old, probably older than Homo sapiens.

It’s simply a way to get people to behave in a society, without invoking the heavier tools such as the law.

[int_19h]

Conversely, that the mechanism is so old indicates that it evolved to work in groups of the size humans (or their ape ancestors even) formed back when it first appeared - i.e. dozens, not millions. It's not a given that the way we scale it is optimal, or even good.

[api]

That's sort of what bothers me. This stuff evolved to work in small tribes, not global societies. When you don't actually know the person the behavior is very different.

[zozbot123]

China's "human flesh search engine", with its attendant doxing and shaming culture, is perhaps even more famous than its social credit system - in fact, one of the points of the latter is to avoid the excesses of the former. There's nothing new here.

[Izkata]

From what I understand, they're closer to old anonymous, doing things because it's interesting. Alongside the bad, there's plenty of stories out there of various HFSE reuniting long-lost loved ones, stopping animal abusers, etc.