Very good post, @taskmaster4450 - I also read that steemit vs reddit article, good comparison there.
I think Dtube has actually brought the most value to steemit as of late, which of course is not part of the core team..

Also a great observation about the near standstill of new technology - I am perhaps a bit more conspiracy minded on this subject than most- but since we all got smartphones in our hands, I feel like breakthroughs have almost completely ceased. Now that we are placated to such an extent, also there is no need to spell properly anymore, no need for proper grammar, no need for math skills, no need to retain knowledge of history or facts, no need for many basic foundations of human thought and expression.

I am certainly guilty of this as well, and I makes me think sometimes if 'Flowers for Algernon' was actually a warning of some dystopian future.

For many people, winning a debate has nothing to do with thought or an individual point of view, but simply referencing a wikipedia or google article... there is no need for thought anymore, we have the internet which has already decided the truth for us.

I hope, as you say, the blockchain can really represent a new era in all of these ideas, in ways that we cant really imagine yet -- and at the same time, now net neutrality threatens this disruptive upheaval as well.

The main idea that I think we all need to start thinking about is: How can we decentralize the ACTUAL internet itself. I mean not just google and friends, but the actual ISPs....

Dangerous thoughts...