Summary

Lacie lives in a future society where people rate other’s online content and face-to-face interactions from 1 to 5 stars on a social media platform. Everyone sees each other’s ratings via smart contact lenses fed content by their phones. Ratings drop after negative occurrences and are boosted by positive interactions — especially those with highly rated people. Businesses, venues, products, social status, etc., are more accessible to those with higher ratings.

Lacie is obsessed with her rating, and because her lease is up, she sets out to increase her 4.2 to a 4.5 to get the 20% influencer discount an exclusive apartment offers. Shortly thereafter, Lacie gets asked by childhood bestie Naomi (4.8) to be maid of honor despite no longer being close. The presents Lacie the perfect opportunity to hobnob with a high 4s crowd and boost her rating. But her flight to the locale gets canceled, and standby is only for 4.2s and above — now too high for Lacie after being dinged going to the airport by a cabbie and a woman she bumped into. With no options to fly, Lacie goes off on an airline attendant, getting downrated by witnesses and docked a full point by airport security as a temporary penalty. Now a 3.1, she rents a car for the nine-hour drive, but the battery depletes along the way and the old rental is incompatible with the charging station. Lacie resorts to hitchhiking the rest of the way, getting downrated following various conundrums.

Unfortunately, Naomi calls Lacie when she’s an hour away and says not to come —she doesn’t want a 2.6 there with a high 4 audience. Naomi admits being only after a ratings boost by inviting Lacie — a “low 4,” childhood-bond maid-of-honor is good for a small prestige increase.

But a determined Lacie continues on (after more calamities) via another hitch and ultimately, an ATV through the woods since the wedding venue only allows 3.8s and above. Muddied, disheveled, and now a 1.1, she sneaks into the venue and gives a speech that goes off the rails to a stunned audience that reduces her to 0.0. Lacie gets dragged out and thrown in jail — but free from ratings hell.

Something disturbing: The hollow interactions between people trying to boost their ratings.

Something entertaining: The closing scene where Lacie and another inmate gleefully insult each other after being freed from a world of ratings.

Overall Reaction to the Episode

Positive. A social media rating being used for access to everything seems plausible for our society someday. This episode was eye-opening.

Most Relatable to our Societal Condition Today

Our addiction to social media, as well the rating of everything through likes, favorites, reviews, and ratings. Additionally, the depicted rating system is similar to our credit rating system used to govern access to a number of important things like cars, homes, and jobs.

Element Connected With This Week’s Assigned Readings

This episode is intimately connected with Botsman’s Big Data Meets Big Brother article about China’s Social Credit system, which rates citizens’ behavior and grants them varying levels of access and privileges according to trustworthiness scores. It seems like this episode was based on this system. Additionally, there are numerous connections to the social network/online-based public shaming and social shunning discussed by Bloom and Jordan in Are We All Harmless Torturers Now? Finally, there are connections with the mutual, participatory surveillance aspects of social media/networking Albrechtslund analyzes in Online Social Networking as Participatory Surveillance.

Discussion Question

If the United States instituted a voluntary social credit system, similar to China’s, would you participate? In exchange for the government monitoring and rating your behavior, you would be granted accesses and privileges (financial, business, social, etc.) not afforded to those who don’t participate, dependent on your rating.