I just finished watching this Bloomberg video on Shenzhen, called “Inside China’s High-Tech Dystopia.” The video obviously has a particular point of view, but there are parts of it that I wasn’t overly fussed about, such as the push toward increased factory automation. Jobs evolve. We used to have elevator operators. Now we don’t. Presumably those people found other empoyment.
What stood out to me was Shenzhen’s solution to jaywalking. They use cameras, facial recognization software, and a “wall of shame” to fine and then discourage people from illegally crossing a street ever again. One guy in the video explains how he once had the fine automatically withdrawn from his WeChat account. No authorization required. And it happened within seconds following the infraction.
That feels unsettling. (If you only want to watch the jaywalking part, skip ahead to 5:35 in the video.)
Black Mirror.
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I wonder if they have a 3 strikes and your out law? Chairman Xi is going to be facing some very difficult problems in the coming years… if he can stay in power.
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