Dtube Philosophy: Digital Feudalism
Hey guys!
So today I touch on a topic for you to titillate your brain neurons with...
Digital Feudalism
Don't know what it is?
Well, I'll tell ya!
Bored out of your gourd with philosophy?
Maybe you should check out one of my music covers instead!
Hope you are all having a wonderful Wednesday!
Tootle-oo Kangaroo!
xx~Beth
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I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.
I guess what I'm suggesting there is that technology is changing, and the world is changing with it, very rapidly. There is some tremendous good coming from the change and also plenty to be concerned about. To your primary point, about power and the centralization of it, yes humans can be very greedy and self-interested. People with power tend to want to keep it, and not share. It's a delicate balance, whether you're Marie Antoinette or Mark Zuckerburg, because ultimately the power comes from large groups of people being willing to accept your authority and live under the system you run.
Through that lens, decentralization is a very scary thing for some people in power. Look at the Arab Spring, or the internet in China, and you see the fear that governments have over letting people loose on Twitter. That kind of centralized power, of governments controlling (or not) whole populations, is super difficult to get right.
Digital Feudalism, as it pertains to more localized systems, may have more of a chance at being closer to equitable over time. I believe that one of the reasons for that is that digital mobility can be greater than with traditional geographic politics. That makes the power structure of the fiefdom much more sensitive to negative sentiment. Witness Facebook. For all of the "power" they have, it is completely derived by people's willingness to use the system. The network effect lock-in is very real, but also much easier to escape than it is to move to Canada, given some viable alternative.
You could look at that hyper-sensitivity to negative sentiment and say, well, people in power within the fiefdom will quash dissent. In many cases, that will happen. If it is done strictly to control people and hold onto power, it is a strategy which is likely to eventually fail. Openness and accountability are critical to success on the platforms which are being built out today. That which is done in secret will be exposed. It's just a matter of time and a question of by whom.
The thing we have going for us is that (at least currently) we all have a voice. Some are louder, sure, but ideas are powerful. At least until the robots take over. Then we will all be happy, whether we like it or not.
Enjoy the sunshine :)
Ha, I upvoted my comment, on principle. Got myself 0.00 cents out of the deal, but it seemed like the right thing to do :)
There's ya about .50! :)
I upvoted your comment too, but I'm afraid it's also worth about 0.00 - enjoy!
The most important advantage in moving into crypto and away from fiat is in the ability to ditch elite manipulation through a Keynesian economic model into an Austrian economic model that doesn't constantly devalue the currency. We've been subject to massive theft on a scale that most just don't understand.
Since the time I was born, my dad has held savings in the bank but even with interest, that dollar he put in the bank in 1961 is only worth $0.04 cents now. Decentralization is a bonus in that no one person will have as much control as before.
In this talk, Stefan Molyneux talks about the properties of bitcoin. Notice that he doesn't emphasize decentralization as to the reason why it benefits us...
@Bethwheatcraft you are correct about power and it is everywhere. Oh on the technology side of things... If you need a hand with anything just give me a shout. ;)
Hi Beth, so enjoyed hearing your thoughts, and I thought your idea that "power can not be decentralized" is worth a good think. Power, of the political variety, tends to want to homogenize and get more concentrated. I"m gonna keep thinking about that..... But I wanted to say, as someone who used to teach and has been learning to do the web dev dance for the past 2-3 years, and now knows how to web dev, even most people who are developers don't know how to work a blockchain. It's early days, and it's a different system so knowing other programing stuff only helps so much. I'd encourage you to jump in and learn it if you're interested. I'm just getting into it myself and it seems like a really worthwhile thing to learn.
I look forward to seeing more of your posts....
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Love this! I actually compared my first few Steemit interactions to am MLM. lt has since improved for me, but there are still some 'salespeople' out there and some of