Losing Face
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Government Surveillance in Contemporary China
3. Social and Ethical Implications of the Present System
4. Unforeseen Implications for the Party
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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1 | The former is the older word. See (Hu 1944). |
2 | The Chinese surveillance system is especially tuned to search for and keep records of the comings and goings of Uighurs, which makes it an especially despicable example of automated racism and religious persecution. In this essay, though, we are interested in the broader issue of the government applying technology to watch its citizens in general, which it most certainly does. |
3 | One might object that there is an external objective sense of face—the perceived benefit or harm to the state—but this is not a broadly conceived and complex view that arises naturally from social norms, expectations, and experiences, but is, instead, narrowly conceived, devised, and imposed by the party. As we shall go on to argue, the reliance on AI increasingly removes the development, application, and enforcement of this ideal from the party as well. |
4 | See, for example, chapter two of the Great Learning. |
5 | See chapter one of the Doctrine of the Mean. |
6 | Thanks to Justin Tiwald for discussing the implications for and importance of sincerity within such a system and suggesting how to describe these. |
7 | In a way, this transference can be seen as the technological solution to the political problem of having the party determine normative standards and behaviors. However, this is why, despite the brilliant efforts of thinkers such as Liu Xiaoqi, one cannot successfully graft Marxist theory onto the Confucian tradition. David S. Nivison offers an insightful exploration of this general problem. See (Nivison 1954). |
8 | For a discussion of the idea of why and how the state will wither away, see (Kurian et al. 2010). |
9 | The more general and even greater concern, of course, is that autonomous intelligent machines will no longer follow values aligned with the welfare of human beings at all. If such machines pursue their own interests, it is hard to see why they would devote resources to human welfare. |
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Ivanhoe, P.J. Losing Face. Religions 2020, 11, 545. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11110545
Ivanhoe PJ. Losing Face. Religions. 2020; 11(11):545. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11110545
Chicago/Turabian StyleIvanhoe, Philip J. 2020. "Losing Face" Religions 11, no. 11: 545. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11110545
APA StyleIvanhoe, P. J. (2020). Losing Face. Religions, 11(11), 545. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11110545