On the Goodness of Greed on Steemit
I woke up this morning and almost spewed my coffee on myself when I saw my steemit balance. Holy Cow!
Now, I am sure that I am not the only one who had a similar reaction. Whether you have a few thousands or a few hundreds, this is enough for everyone to get extra excited about steemit. The first thing that came to my mind:
Is Greed Bad?
Greed is an interesting human emotion. Greed is an intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food. Many people think it is something we should somehow eradicate and fight again. The popular slogan: "We should build an economic system that is not based on greed" is often used to demonize the free market.
People who think that we are only the product of our environment may disagree with me but my position is that greed will remain as long as human exist. No matter the environment, the desire for more will be there. In all spheres of human life, we have an innate desire for more. More opportunity, more experiences, more knowlege, more depth, more understanding, more options, etc.
It is the main reason why we are not cave dwellers anymore. No amount of brainwashing will get that out of our system. But how can greed be good?
Greed Puts Springs in Your Shoes and Make You Wake Up Ealier!
Ok, here is the dialog I had with my greed this morning (530am while drinking my coffee):
Greed: "Hey dude, have you checked out your balance? How do we get more?"
Me: "Well, I could write articles and/or start voting more often"
Greed: "Is there any ways you can cheat or shortcut so you don't have to work so hard?"
Me: "Hmm, not really. First, I have a reputation to preserve and don't want to spoil it. Second, coal mining is hard work. Typing on a keyboard my thoughts and feelings isn't in comparaison"
Greed: You've got a point, so get off your butt right now dude!!! Vote everyday and start writing at least a blogpost everyday. Think about all the dreams you have, this is the best way for you to achieve them! GO GO GO.
Me and my greed came to an understanding and as a reward, he gave me an unprecedented surge of motivation.
Greed in the service of Steemit.com and it's users
If one has no STEEMPOWER or SteemDollars, he/she got to start writing epic content people love. If you are one of those people, read the article I wrote about The Truth About Ridiculously High Steemit Payout. It will give you a solid primer on the topic. Everyone at the bottom of the totem pole of influence, if their greed kicks in, will be motivated to create better and better content.
If one has a lot of STEEMPOWER and desire for more of it + some SteemDollars, he/she will need to start voting and to select only the top quality post. This way, spam is disincentivized, the people at the bottom of the totem pole will be forced to create better content then their competition, etc.
All of those activities increase the quality of the content, it attracts more users and increase the value of STEEM(and SteemPower by rebound) on the market. In the end, greed actually benefited everyone who's on Steemit.
Greed is not the real motivator
Everyone has dreams and desires that goes deeper than greed. For example, my number one dream in life is to buy my family's land and house that my dad built and to have a large family that I can home school with my future wife. Different people want different things. Some want a nice sport car or a penthouse or whatever. I personally prefer not to judge what other people want...unless it is to destroy or steal another's property.
Greed kicks in when you found an opportunity to actualize our goals, dreams and desires. For most people who find themselves unmotivated, it is simply because they have subconsciously given up. So they walk in life saying: "How come am I not motivated to get what I want in life?"
The day those people realize that their goals, dreams and desires are reachable and possible, a new life literally began for them.
Gratitude to Steemit
Since I got on steemit, I've got springs in my shoes, I wake up ealier, my brain is activated, my dreams are reachable and the future is bright. Steemit gave me hope and I am grateful for that.
Your turn
Please let me know below what are the goals, dreams and desires you think steemit can help you achieve this year. I can't wait to read them all!
re: the debate in the above comments around the subject of greed...
as I read this, I feel the "greed" theme as secondary to the value in the article itself. having been following your writing on here for a few weeks, it's clear you are a top contributor of consistent value - and that motivation has come across before any greed. the greed theme makes for a great headline, though I feel the cats above are getting caught up on it...
yes, we may all have that primal egoic urge kicking in at times, wanting to extract dollars from this opportunity. natural. and there's valid reason why greed was included in the 10 commandments as a sin. (I'm not religious by any means, but can recognize wisdom.) REGARDLESS, even if those primal drives push us into certain actions every now and then - you spell it out well here: this force CAN be used constructively for the greater collective good.
the saints beyond greed might be sitting in caves in Tibet - most of us here are still human, and will experience it at times. but if that force can be channeled to fuel value creation - both generating the means to free ourselves to pursue creative passions and build a better life for our families, while generating content that educates & inspires others and contributing to some bad-ass collective legacies... then bring it on!
Primo, mate. Excellently written. :-)
The idea that greed is natural or you must be a saint to live without it is based on a flawed notion of human psychology. Its like saying "well, there will always be war, so we might as well fight." Having such an attitude is exactly what allows wanton wars to exist in the first place. Greed exists in the current world because it is heavily incentivized. The financial markets, for example, are places where people of otherwise modest talent can make large sums of money very quickly. But how do they get this money? Ever seen wolf of Wall street? They don't get it by offering goods and services to improve the lives of their clients. They get it by being greedy, from which they justify all manner of lies to get more and more money. This is not a natural state of affairs, it can only exist so long as it can be sustained. Stock exchanges are an invention that is at most hundreds of years old. Most people lived and died without ever feeling the euphoria associated with greed-based gains.
Nice article, however, let us not forget that the reason we are here is because a brilliant programmer also realised that there is more to life than just self profit.
would they have done only out of their goodness of their heart for no money or is there a part of greed that motivated their actions?
What is the most powerful to make a profit? Self-profit and creating a way for lots of people to make a profit so that the value of your ownership goes up?
I think freedom motivated their actions, Steem is giving people power over their own work and the opportunity to sell their content in a fair and free marketplace.
i agree
would they have done only out of their goodness of their heart for no money or is there a part of greed that motivated their actions?
I don't know, you should ask @dantheman and @ned
What i do know is that part of the brilliance of capitalism is that people who contribute greatly may be rewarded greatly for their contributions. I personally see this as a good thing. What i do not endorse however is that this reward system dissolves into a hyper version of itself and results into something that no longer serves the majority. Which is what you see when... you look out your window.
I think @ned and @dantheman wouln't have invested that much time and energy without the appeal of massive gain. But that's just my opinion.
Future will tell. What would do you mean by "something that is not serving the majority"?
The 80/20 principle is impossible to escape and anything that is a level playing field will have a ~20% that will produce ~80% of the results(its even fractal=> 80/20 of 80/20 is 95/5 and again 99/1). So even now, I don't see how it actually serves the majority.
I am curious of your answer. Maybe I am not seeing a scenario that you are seeing.
Maybe its my impression but i have the feeling that your getting defensive because some don't fully agree. So again, i enjoyed reading your post.
I'm rather confused by your math and interpretation of the pareto principle but i assume that your point is that things aren't fair, never have been and never will be. So if 200000 years of human evolution accumulates into a world where a handful flies around in gold plated jumbo jets while the majority starves and you are perfectly ok with that then i rest my case.
I am not okay with people dying or starving. Of course not. It's just that I don't believe equality of outcome is possible since we are all very different and have varying level of skills and abilities.
The pareto principle is brutal, but its just the way things are setup. 80% of the traffic occurs on 20% of the roads. 80% of the beer is drank by 20% of the beer drinkers, so on and so forth. It's just everywhere in nature.
What or whoever created this space we call reality, didn't have equality of outcome in mind. So, I am simply wondering how anything can serve that majority equally. If you have an answer, I am all hear. The only answer I can come up with is with the proverbial "Tides rises all ships".
This video I posted on SteemIt is quite close to what you're talking about here.
https://steemit.com/animation/@tshering-tamang/moreeeee
Moreeee
Edit : Well, The video might not be that close but it revolves around greed too. My goal is to own a house where I can live happily with my family and be free economically and have enough time to enjoy life.
very good! Thanks for sharing
The words "greedy" and "selfish" are just shorthand for rational self interest, despite their negative connotations in many people's minds. Even a monk who gives all his worldly positions away and locks himself away in a monastery is only doing so because he thinks that by doing so, he'll be greatly rewarded in the afterlife. Greedy bastard. ;) Anyone claiming to be selfless can only be dishonest.
I wrote something about this earlier today.
In my opinion, the greed as motivator is indeed "bad". The reasons are explained in the post.
Let me know what you think!
Someone might have stolen and reposted small parts of this here:
https://steemit.com/steemit/@chrisvblogger/greed-in-steemworld
I disagree with the premise that greed is good. I believe that we are in a predatory system, and for this time, greed can be incentivized and used in such a way that an escape from this system presents itself. But in our natural environment, humans are built for sharing, not greed. You can only have so much stuff in the real world. You can't eat all the food, you can't store all the food, you can't own all the houses, etc. But money is like a facilitator of bad behavior, allowing what was formerly impossible to not only exist, but to also be taken to an extremely destructive excess. So in general, I would argue that greed is a baser emotion that is played upon by our current system and should not be catered to.
"humans are built for sharing, not greed". According to who? It may sound good but I don't see supporting evidences for that in history, archaeology, biology or even basic self-interest.
Greed is natural part of the human experience, what is important is how do we make sure that the greed of one actually benefit the other. Anyone who proclaims that we should do away with it has some dangerous totalitarian streak in their personality. Humans can't be molded like play dough and if you try, you'll have to use the power of the gun or the treat of violence.
Sharing is not always a virtue, if it's not reciprocal, you can actually incentivize dependency and decentivize self-reliance. You can also share something harmful with someone like drugs, a cigarette or bad habits for that matter.
"Greed is natural part of the human experience" according to who? Humans are built for sharing because every economy outside of the west is a sharing economy. Money is a false, abstract concept that was CREATED by man to control resources and monetize other people. Before the invention of money, people shared. This is widely accepted. Greed is not a natural part of the human existence. I live every day without feeling greed. I buy only what I need, I consume only what I need, I drink/eat/wear only what I need. I am aware of what greed feels like, but I haven't felt or indulged in that feeling since I was a child/teenager.
Your comment that
Loaded with incorrect assumptions. Firstly, I'm the last thing from a totalitarian. So in that you are already incorrect. I live my life by natural law and have no trouble allowing others to do and be themselves while still maintaining my integrity. Secondly, humans are rational creatures, there is no need for violence to convince people that greed is bad. When you look at the state of the economy and the local environment it should be obvious that greed is a horrible thing that has no place in a civilized society, just like violence has no place in a civilized society.
You agree that 'the law of the jungle' should not prevail despite humanities long history of violence, yet you do not question the premise that greed should be allowed despite its very short run in societies. Remember 99% of known human history was hunter gatherer. You cannot be very greedy in a society like that because everyone knows who you are and knows your contribution. If you don't share in both the work and rewards you get cut off=you starve.
So no, I do not think your post follows, it is not historically accurate that greed has always been present nor does the evidence support the notion that greed is all pervasive and needs to be 'managed'. It is the management of greed that allows it to grow to proportions that are not commensurate with its value as an emotive response.
A few things:
Please define what a sharing economy is in your mind and how/why they exist apparently only in the West?
What exactly is "false" about the concept of money?
Sure people shared before the "invention" of money. Have they not shared afterwards? Was there not both greed AND sharing before, during, and after the creation of money?
Where can I find a successful implementation of your ideal (or near-ideal) sharing economy today?
A sharing economy is any economy in which there exists no monetary form of exchange, and the people trade necessary goods and services based on common goodwill, sometimes barter. For example, a group of hunters will go and hunt for everyone sharing the results of the kill with nonhunter females and male and female children/elderly.
Money is not real. It does not exist. This was true in the past but is even more so now, since 99% of all money is just keystrokes on a central banks computer. Money was invented as a tool of slavery and control, nothing more. When food grows out of the ground, and water falls from the sky, why would you need money?
In general people do not share in this day and age. Everything has been 'monetized'. In many countries, even using a bathroom costs something. Greed before the creation of money certainly 'existed' because it exists now and it cannot be said that money created an emotion that didn't exist in the past. However, greed was highly disadvantageous to an individual because without money, there is no way to be truly greedy.
Sure you can eat the last banana out of greed, but you can't eat ALL THE BANANAS out of greed, because your stomach has finite space, and your body a finite appetite. But with money you can BUY ALL THE BANANAS and let them rot just to spite others and prevent them from eating. This is a level and aspect of greed that was not present in the past.
You can find a successful implementation of the ideal/non-ideal sharing economy in any non-western tribal society, hunter-gatherer society and any group of people who live together and survive/thrive without the use of money. There are much more than you realize.
Greed is a tool nothing more, it's like guns or religion, neither have a positive or negative value attached unless WE attached such said value to it. Positive and negative don't exist outside the human mind, they are 100% subjective.
All I'm saying is you can argue the point on both sides of almost any debate. Was hitler bad? I don't know let's say out of people who he killed one was actually going to start his own war and would kill the majority of people in the world. Hitler inadvertently killed him and now because of that the world didn't go threw some crazy times.
So was hitler ultimately bad in this scenario or does the greater good cancel out his actions? Was hitler still bad but what happened was actually now a good thing because of the future lives now saved? Or are they both tragedies and there's no good to be found? Sounds subjective to me ;-).
Awesome post btw I really enjoyed the early morning read, I to was exceptionally excited when I saw the payouts starting last night, I am not disappointed one bit!
Hi @criptoctopus ! nice to read your post
"Since I got on steemit, I've got springs in my shoes, I wake up ealier, my brain is activated, my dreams are reachable and the future is bright. Steemit gave me hope and I am grateful for that."
Being grateful is one of the most important things in life. Being gratufel and allways remembering where are we all coming from. Sometimes we start being succesfull and we forget this point.
So, about the payout: do you recommend to convert steem dollars to steem or keeping it as it is?
Thanks!
I'm not touching anything before the dust settles. I'm allergic to things I can't control. :-)
I think it's a little ambitious to say that greed is always good or always bad. In certain situations any emotion can be either good or bad. I would prefer to look at the outcomes of this "greed." If it increases high quality content being added to the system, then thumbs up from me. If it turns into people attempting to game the system for personal gain, then oh well, it probably would have happened anyway.
to reply to your last section in your post. I have just finished school and the world grew very fast and became very scary so I am hoping that steemit will give me the information i need to go on and become successful in my future as it provides a lot of tips and really useful information :)