2019 Year 12 IB Extended Essays

13 The local case study of the Chinese social credit system is extremely comprehensive, and reflective of how far humans have come in developing their intellect. However, it is a negative example, as it has been used for the wrong reasons, and is taking personal freedoms away, instead of furthering others’ knowledge, and improving the quality of human life – something every new technological development strives to achieve. Here, it is important to question whether this can be defined as an ‘evolution of knowledge’. The phrase ‘evolution of knowledge’ refers to a development of the knowledge, presumably in a positive direction, for the benefit of society. New discoveries and inventions are attractive to humans, because it can improve the quality of life. However, in cases such as this, one must question – have we developed our knowledge to a point where we have become restricted by it? Does this undermine the point of developing knowledge altogether? This is quickly becoming a global problem. Through programs across the world such as the Chinese social credit system, the Australian data retention law, and even simple exploitations of personal information such as the Facebook data leak of 2018, personal security and freedoms are becoming less and less assured, and inciting distrust in government systems. Society is increasingly becoming trapped and forced to abide by harsh regulations – reducing individual freedoms of thought, movement, and speech, to levels of those before the Renaissance. In this way, the knowledge that has developed from historical periods such as the Industrial Revolution, which has resulted in programs such as the Chinese social credit system, cannot be considered evolved, or supreme. The level of knowledge we possess has imprisoned us within our creations, as seen in the affects within local communities, such as China, or Australia.