Will this weaken the scientific community in China?
Will this cause researchers to become adverse to speaking out for fear of retaliatory attacks on themselves?
Seems like a major step in the wrong direction for Chinese society.
Will this cause researchers to become adverse to speaking out for fear of retaliatory attacks on themselves?
Seems like a major step in the wrong direction for Chinese society.
It sounds like a step in the right direction. It feels less gross if you think of "social punishment" as a lighter version of "legal punishment". No need to send cheaters to jail, but don't let them off the hook either.
Assuming the system won't be abused for political (I'm sure it will), the detection is accurate (I'm sure it'll be hard), the social punishment is reasonable (we'll see), it sounds reasonable in theory.
It is not a legal score, it is a social score (both in theory and in practice)
I completely agree that it is stupid to send non-dangerous people to jail, but we should punish them with fines and possibly specific job restrictions decided on a per-case basis by a tribunal if there is a clear danger, but not by restricting their every aspect of their private, public, social and professional life.
The government can’t tweak at such a fine level but wherever it can, that’s what the system feels like from my very far and biased point of view.
The mental gymnastics people present for support on these policies is astounding to me.
That's what's disturbing here, the link to this other system that is, in itself, nightmarish.
What will a society look like where people aren't free to learn from their mistakes but are instead perpetually held back by them?
Compare this to a prison system based on punishment instead of prevention, leading to depressing recidivism.
I didn't realize the point system so subjective until I watched that clip you shared. How do they decide who becomes an "Information Collector?" Those positions will surely be highly coveted because they come with a massive amount of power and influence over their neighbors' lives. What concerns me about the payment system is that it seems like a fast-track to massive inequality - wealth, social, and justice. If someone can simply pay to erase their "bad" behavior then there's functionally one set of "rules" for those who can afford not to follow them and another set of rules that are actually enforced, in life changing ways, for everyone else.
I have the same thought behind UBI and drug decriminalization as well: thought experiments be damned, go try it and see.
If you have to stereotype Chinese dominated community, I think one pattern might emerge, the disregard towards rules particularly if that leads to personal advantages. In other words, rules speak louder when employed for punishment rather than respected as means to obtain the greater good.
There is possibility such punishments could be abused, but as many things happened in China, the execution of such is contextual and selective, so only time will tell.
It most probraly will because as soon as the system starts working the definition of "misconduct" will probably include ideologically-incorrect research results and subjects, failures to comply to the Chinese job etiquette etc.
And the Chinese Government reaction on Dr. He's breakthrough is an example of how policy can stand against science.
>dozens of government agencies will have the power to hand out penalties to those caught committing major scientific misconduct
The key insight here is that you are not being punished as a result of a long, careful process administered by judges and a jury of your peers (which has some problems but at least is designed to be careful and not political), but instead will be at the mercy of a few government agencies which must by their very construction be political.
In the US, there is a similar problem in a much smaller dose, where the government is likewise attempting to assign itself more power without introducing controls to let the citizens be the ones who ultimately decide what happens. One example would be the "secret courts" in the NSA problem. Although the US government is presently much nicer to its citizens than the Chinese government, the only reason this is true is because US citizens have more leverage on the US government than Chinese citizens do on theirs. This can change, and unsurprisingly the officials are trying to gain more authority.
Besides, the Chinese authorities already said what he did violates Chinese law, so what would introducing new laws achieve here, unless they're applied retroactively?
The last thing I heard was that he went missing, any updates on that?