Social quantification is a core policy goal and geopolitical arena in China

Evidence

Far from being a feature of the West only, the growth of the social quantification sector, logistics, and the IoT in the context of rapidly expanding uses of artificial intelligence is a core development and policy goal in China too. The social quantification sector emerges as an arena of commercial and geopolitical competition between the West (particularly the United States) and China. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 50

Categorization

• XREF: Contradicts a ‘Western surveillance capitalism’ reading — data colonialism is not a Western-only phenomenon, which matters for evaluating the rival frame against attention/surveillance schools. — connects to: Social quantification is a subsector of the wider ICT business sector — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 186; Geopolitical mistrust and platform separation block Chinese cultural export infrastructure — W. David Marx, Blank Space: A Cultural History of the…, 750; China’s state AI policy targets economy-wide data integration — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 684 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Social quantification is a subsector of the wider ICT business sector #expands (0.80) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 186
• China’s state AI policy targets economy-wide data integration #expands (0.75) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 684
• China is rapidly displacing the West as a global data gatekeeper #complicates (0.75) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 332
• Geopolitical mistrust and platform separation block Chinese cultural export infrastructure #complicates (0.72) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 750
• Great-power policy discourse structurally requires an us-versus-them world split #expands (0.70) — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 140