Pitch
Individuals given a score based on integration of large amount of public and private data: an all-encompassing system of cybersurveillance.
Description
Make life easier/more difficult for Singapore?
Easier
Describe the change
This idea takes a leaf from the Chinese government's efforts to create a Social Credit System, the goal of which is to monitor individuals and companies based on a mix of information from financial institutions and law-enforcement agencies.
So, imagine the traditional credit rating provided to an individual by banks today, magnify it and you get an individual being provided a score (and a rank, akin to gamification) based on all of his or her actions in her life. This includes everything from the family and friend network, to education, but also the social good done by the individual, such as charity, reduced carbon footprint etc.
Such a system is only possible in a society where all bits of individual data are able to be tracked but also are integrated - essentially a smart city or nation. Individual information is already collected by various agencies currently - in the future all these databases will be combined to provide a more coherent picture of a person.
How will this change impact Smart Nation Singapore in 2030?
This individual scoring system will not just impact the Smart Nation, but will also be made possible by the Smart Nation. Understandably, there will be issues related to pervasive surveillance by government, but by 2030, the government will ensure strict safeguards to prevent abuse, and may even assign an independent committee to oversee this.
Because the scoring is based to taking into account all the actions of an individual, an individual's destiny will not solely be based on the family they are born into, since there will be enough avenues to ensure upward mobility in the scores (or downward, if one takes actions unbecoming of a citizen).
Hence, this will lead to a new system of meritocracy and opportunity for citizens. There will be different baskets of individuals based on common characteristics exhibited by them, akin to personality test traits(e.g.the innovator, the designer, the social do-gooder, the defender). One will be ranked within these identity baskets and across them.
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