Just 15 years ago, millions of Americans weren’t using Twitter and Instagram as a platform to check out the latest news but today it's as if we can't survive without either one. In 2013 we told our kids not to meet people online or get into strangers’ cars -- and now, we use Uber and Lyft to find strangers’ cars online without a second thought.  

Advances in technology have the power to transform social norms. Considering the amount of data being stored through blockchain and other technological media, it’s not far-fetched to say that one of the next big changes could involve the aggregation of business and consumer data to build public records of personal reputation. Could a Black Mirror-esque society be in our future?

What Comes Next

To get insight into what happens when we store information from public and private sources to cultivate a singular profile, we can look to China’s recent social credit system. Since 2014, China has been piloting a system to quantify a person’s “trustworthiness” based on their charitable donations, debt payments, and other factors. It’s been used to provide advantages to “trustworthy” people in spheres from the healthcare market to online dating.