The dunbar number is an important number to be aware of when it comes to networks. The average person will have some sort of minimal relationship with about 150 people. Beyond that, most won't even know who you are. Until you accomplish something that raises your usefulness beyond your clan, you can't reasonably expect support beyond that number.

This is also the reason that curation is broken. There are 36 whales. If one divides the 20000 active posts per day, that means a less than 1/500 chance of an upvote from them. Whales also stick to the dunbar number for the same reasons everyone else does.

New users often make the mistake of comparing themselves to earlier adopters of steem. In this sense, it is similar to a pyramid in distribution. But the more important factor by far is that it pales in comparison to the debasement of the USD.

Then some whales power down while asking new users to power up. It doesn't make for a good showing of human nature. However one should remember that this is why the blockchain exists. Eventually, the whales cash out, and it will eventually be too early to do so. When that happens, distribution becomes more even.