Can Human Rating Improve Our Lives?

A ‘Human Rating’, in essence, is a numerical value that is assigned to a person, based on a specific set of metrics. It is something that has been explored in science-fiction (Black Mirror S03E01 Nosedive) and even in real-life with Ant Financial’s Zhima credit. However, if you read any articles, blogs or content about the aforementioned Human Ratings and you will probably have a dystopian outlook about how the Human Rating can totally change the way people behave and in a way, have them behave more mechanically, predictably and ironically, less human. But the concept is an interesting one - can it be improved, adjusted and made to reward people who provide value and incentivize positive behavior? One startup in Kyiv, Ukraine certainly thinks so. Sapien Wallet through its innovative lightwallet hopes to create an ecosystem that allows people to rate and review other people and businesses after they conclude a transaction with each other. This ‘post-transaction’ rating as Sapien Wallet calls it, will then be used in a calculation to give a numerical value for the other person/business, which will hopefully indicate their level of trustworthiness and quality. Sapien Wallet’s co-founder and CEO, Sergey Lysuk claims “our Human Rating will be the first of its kind to provide a truly unbiased rating that is based on the most verifiable and trustworthy data, post-transaction data.” Furthermore, the tech startup is claiming that much of what is wrong with most online ratings and review platforms is that the data is vulnerable to tampering and bias, making it not very trustworthy. With that in mind, they have opted to build their application to be totally decentralized, storing the user data and reviews on a decentralized network that Lysyuk insists “improves the user’s confidence in the service.” This is all well and good, but can there actually be any merit in having this kind of Human Rating? Below are some points as to why a Human Rating can be beneficial to people’s everyday lives. A Basis in Decision Making Since review and rating sites have been around, people have been referring to them in order to help them make decisions. People may seek the wisdom of Yelp and Google Reviews to find out what restaurant to go to, Rotten Tomatoes for a movie they are considering to watch or Trip Advisor when they are thinking of traveling somewhere new. Though these ratings are not the ‘end all’ for most people, it is clear that it will significantly impact a person’s decision towards what they are looking for. If it is a good rating, users may confirm and proceed and if the rating is bad, then users may reconsider. This type of rating is everywhere on the internet to the point where it has become difficult for anyone to confirm a purchase without at least having a look at the ratings first. This is what can be achieved when it comes to people with a Human Rating. Much like a restaurant, movie or electronic device, people who have interacted and made a transaction with a person will have the option to leave a rating and review to recount their interaction with another person. This will mean that the more positive interactions you have with someone, the better your rating becomes. Similarly to how people use online reviews and ratings as a tool to help them make a more informed decision, the Human Rating allows people to make better decisions regarding who they choose to trust and interact with. Healthy Competition A meritocratic ecosystem where individuals are given credit and rewarded for the value they bring can be achieved through the Human Rating. As mentioned above, it is very clear that ratings on goods and services online have a significant impact on a potential customer’s decision, the higher the rating, the more likely that customer is willing to go with that option. This will mean that individuals who are offering their services on the platform will be incentivized to provide the best service possible to maintain or achieve a high rating. This will create a healthy competition as users and customers will clearly see who has a higher rating based on what they are looking for and then most likely opt for the option with the higher rating. This is already occurring on contracting websites such as Fiverr where contractors are given ratings by their customers and future potential customers will typically choose the contractor with the highest rating to fulfill their needs. With a Human Rating, it will become very clear and easy to determine who is most deserving of your time, attention, money, etc, whereas before, you had to roll the dice and hope for the best. Behavior Improvement Scrutiny, checks & balances and accountability are mechanisms that exist in the workplace, school, politics and many other such institutions to maintain a certain level of quality and ensure that individuals behave and act in an acceptable manner. The Human Rating will almost become a reflection of yourself, projecting to those outside what others feel toward you. This means that your actions and behavior during an interaction where a rating can be given will most likely improve. This is because there will now exist a mechanism where individuals will be accountable for the way they behave towards others. One example that comes to mind is the difference between the behavior of conventional Taxi drivers and that of ride-hailing app drivers such as Uber or Lyft. It is almost a public consensus that ride-hailing app drivers provide better service and have a more positive behavior towards customers. This is because they are under scrutiny from the customer and their actions and behavior will determine if the customer grants them a good or bad rating, which as mentioned above, factors in the outcome of potential future business transactions. All of this results in an overall general improvement in behavior, due to the accountability that is now factored in. A Human Rating that is properly designed to provide users with the tool to quickly decide if an individual is trustworthy or not is long overdue. People are always looking to form lasting, trusting relationships, but the amount of time that currently takes is simply too long. Sapien Wallet’s Human Rating is looking to bridge that gap of distrust among humans and create an ecosystem where exchanges of value can occur in a positive, mutually beneficial manner.