Gridcoin and Steemit as engines of democratic techno-conomy

I had been examining altcoins that would be worth mining when I ran across Gridcoin. Gridcoin had two attributes which greatly impressed me. The first was that the technology was well within my means, and the second was that no matter how my financial reward turned out, that I would be contributing towards science. See my earlier post for information on using BOINC and/or Gridcoin (https://steemit.com/gridcoin/@stevescoins/starting-the-gridcoin-journey )

In my research on setting up Gridcoin, I was pointed towards Steemit. Honestly, I found nothing impressive about Steemit at first. It seemed to be not just another social media platform, and the reward system seemed overly complicated.

However, I was exposed to a post which explained how Steemit could be employed for the common good, and another post which told the story of a poor person who was able to use Steemit specifically to aid his own community. I saw that the same reasoning that I started working with Gridcoin could be used to justify looking into Steemit further in depth.

And then I found this post ( https://steemit.com/steem-help/@peterz/steem-currency-cheat-sheet ) which made the personal reward side of Steemit easier to understand. Let us not forget that the self-interest motive serves basic human needs. For my own part, I am unemployed, and very likely to remain that way (not of my own choice).

I like to call the combination of the profit motive with the need to serve community "enlightened self-interest". I find that Gridcoin and Steemit can serve both needs and are within my ability to do so.

Indeed, the ability to serve both these needs is within the reach of anyone with a computer and internet access. While this ability is beyond the means of the poorest people in the world, there are projects which seek to mitigate that issue.

So what we have is a situation in which anyone can participate in speaking their mind, serving their community, and making money all at the same time. However, we must remember that as far as Steemit goes, value must be provided. A thousand posts all declaring the poster's love of the first cup of coffee in the morning does not provide unique value.

On the other hand, each person has the ability to provide a unique and valuable story. Take the post about the first cup of coffee...was the coffee a special brand? Did the poster use a new technique in brewing which affected the taste? Was there a new flavor enhancer used (such as using molasses instead of sugar)? Was there a picture of an attractive person drinking coffee part of the post?

Obviously, people with more computers or with more powerful computers can generate Gridcoin, and people with more specialized knowledge or who are more popular can generate more Steem. This is not a bad situation, as explained in this post ( https://steemit.com/steemit/@pachenko/why-inequality-on-steemit-is-a-good-thing ).

The important thing is that there is not a central control point denying you access to Gridcoin or Steemit. There is not a central bank telling you how to use your resources, or to force you to use your resources in an inefficient way to satisfy some paper pusher's "policy".

YOU are responsible for how you allocate your resources in both platforms. If you choose to use your Steemit blog to explain an unpopular position, as right as that position is, then you probably won't make the same money that you would if you catered your posts to an audience. I wish I had saved this post, but someone had made the point that Steemit can also be used to integrate into a community of similar interests.

Finally, your rewards from both platforms are not determined by a central authority. The economy of both systems is market driven by users, not policy driven. Gridcoin, like Bitcoin, is stored to your computer, not in a bank.

Although I am older and slow to learn, I think the potential of both platforms has a high upside, with the added bonus that attempting to hit the golden ring benefits society as well.

Good mining, and good posting!