When you and I would have a star(*) rating

Whoever developed the first rating system would probably not have thought of the far reaching implications of this innovation. For thanks to this innovation, we have become judgemental human beings and love giving our verdict on just about everything and just about everyone.

We rate and review across a variety of stuff. When we take an Uber ride, we rate the driver, the route, the cleanliness of the car. When we like the driver’s conversation style, we give him a 6* rating. When we are dropped 100m off, we don’t stop to rate the driver 1*. We rate the food we ordered, the delivery staff. We are asked rate the calls we have with the customer service representatives. People with a good rating are paid incentives by their companies and often politely nudge us to rate them. We do so, often feeling we are helping that person. We rate the hotel we stayed in, the restaurants and what not. We often also rate strange stuff like President’s house. Even animals are not spared, we talk about them in our reviews of the Zoos. We rate our maids, we rate our vegetables and what not. The list just keeps getting interesting.

Have you ever thought that the day is not far when this rating system will extend to us, the human beings. We start rating each other, on various dimensions. Imagine rating your friends, relatives, neighbours, politicians, co-workers. As my mind explores this possibility, several funny and several scary things rush through my mind. It also makes me ponder over the consequences.

I imagine every walking human being having a rating. And even before I speak with you, I kind of know what to expect. Because I can check your rating. We no longer have elections and politicians are automatically thrown out when their rating falls below a certain level. Every human is able to rate every human only once (you can modify the previous rating though, if your experience changes for the better or for the worse). There are mechanisms to check if we genuinely know each other or even had an interaction. You and I are judged on varied attributes — from our dressing style to conversation style to other soft skills.

There would be a fear in every new interaction of being judged negatively. We will see both positive and negative abuse of this. Just like the driver nudges us to rate him well, we start asking people for positive ratings. The rich begin to buy the positive feedbacks as well. I am extremely worried as I think of all such possibilities. But it may also have positive influences making us aware of our faults and may be, provoking us to be better human beings.

All of this looks like distant stuff. There have been previous attempts that have been stalled for some of the reasons above. But the reality is, given how we have seen that what is impossible today is the future of tomorrow; this may just be the future.

You and I will likely have a rating too. And if we do, the future looks creepy.

P.S. —I first published this story on my LinkedIn channel.