[bloak]

China's economy isn't by any stretch of the imagination "communist", but telling every car where to go is perhaps the right solution for the future, with computer science making it feasible and overpopulation making it desirable.

However, I'm not sure that's in any way relevant to freedom of thought and freedom of information.

[geofft]

And Google already does it: take a look at the stories of small towns wishing Google would stop routing people through a certain surface road and not knowing how to make that request. People trust their navigation apps because in general those apps have earned their trust.

In general I am skeptical of "Communism is bad because the government will X" arguments where private industry is capable of doing X in as thorough a way for the average citizen's practical liberty and especially where private industry is already trying X.

[StreamBright]

Yes communism is bad because of other reasons, and because it failed every single time it was tried. Btw. China is not a communist state for a long time.

[seanmcdirmid]

Just run by a party that happens to identify themselves as the Communist Party China (CPC). Also the kids that still have to take Marxist and Mao theory in high school and university wish the country would admit to no longer being communist also.

[StreamBright]

Yeah but naming can be safely ignored. Examples:

North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic

[seanmcdirmid]

Ya, but just don't say China isn't communist in a Chinese public forum, you might offend a 同志.