RE: Why does power often lead to corruption?
Great post!
Power is such a tricky concept. Every time I hear the word, I implicitly interpret it in a moral framework (and usually with a negative connotation to boot). But on second thought, it seems like it doesn't logically require having any moral dimension unless you define it in at the start.
If its definition is actually neutral and maybe like the 'extent of a particular capacity to causally effect the world around it', or something along those lines, then all sorts of benign or beneficial things enter into the picture!
I guess what I'm getting at is that Steemit/Bitcoin/crypto could be seen as increasing individuals' power enormously, but tipped towards the good side of the moral equation because of its more liberal (distributed and anonymous) traits.
So now I'm thinking maybe the thing that inherently corrupts is more like unaccountability or secrecy. Technology increases transparency which decreases likelihood of corrupt abuse of the power available. So on blockchain we can become more powerful and less corrupt, because of the transparency?
Damn this post got me thinking. Thanks!!
That's natural. If you take morals to be about consequences and power is the ability to change things as the wielder desires, then there is a moral dimension to power.
I think balance is still crucial. No matter how transparent the transfer of power is, it's still reliant on how the end users with whatever power they have using it responsibly. Then there's the question about who's version of responsibility is really right in the end anyway.