I felt the same way as you when I first came on here and saw all of the stuff that comes up when you search by "new," and saw how heavily skewed toward crypto it is. I'm glad I stuck it out and looked a little deeper and found how much potential this platform has, because I also really don't like Facebook and feel like it took away many of the early creative micro-communities that exited online before the age of social media came in in full. I have a casual interest in cryptocurrency but it doesn't factor almost at all into what I actually read and do on here. It's been such a breath of fresh air having the inspiration to write and share my creativity again. Even though I don't know you, I'm so glad to hear that the medication is helping you feel better and create again.
Thank you so much.
Being able to be creative just rolls out into the rest of your life, doesn't it? And having a receptive community here is just sooooo motivating and encouraging, isn't it! It really reinforces when I go on FB now what a creepy vibe it is there compared to here.
It's been amazing feeling appreciated in finding like minded communities that enjoy reading the things I write, and being able to appreciate others as well. I've always despised Facebook. I used to be really into Livejournal and I lamented when there was a big cultural shift to Twitter. To me it was such a clear symptom of the times that we had to switch to a platform for reading thoughts that requires basically zero attention span.
Ever since the Cambridge Analytica stuff came out, it seems like there's been a bit of a cultural awakening to just how toxic social media has become, and now people are realizing that they've been the product to sell all along. You may actually be interested in learning more about the underlying philosophy of blockchain now that you've found a community with so many enthusiasts, because that's a big part of it--re-decentralizing the internet. So much of it is about pushing back against the big conglomerates and corporations that have started to monopolize information and will really only get worse over time. The idea is that blockchain is a kind of insurance against that.
Yeah, I can certainly feel the difference in vibe that a non-corporatised space has on the people who are operating within it. It's like the underlying intent is like an invisible smell or a virus that infects people on a subconscious level. And sure, while it's in people's interests to be decent to other people on here in a way that's not true on places like FB or Twitter, it feels like it's not just simply that people are kinder and more generous here because of the money. It's the difference between being, as you said, the divided-and-conquered product in those spaces, and so we become more competitive and aggressive. Whereas here we are all working towards the same thing, which we are all a part of, and so it's like the human propensity to collaborate with each other, which I broadly believe to be our natural state if we don't have greedy powerful groups dividing and conquering, comes out and we have trust. And there's nothing better than trust to open up that creative space.
(Of course it's deffo not all utopia here; there are greedy destabilising people here too, who are untouchable. But still, it's different).
I think I have a vague notion now of how the blockchain works, and how everything is recorded and transparent there. So yeah, I guess I'll dip my toe into the nitty gritty of it as I go along. I just find it very technical for my ole brain :)
Well, on a philosophical level, it's probably impossible to create a utopia among humans. Plus, you know, all there are all of the external factors that throw wrenches in our plans. We need a few bad apples (or as you said, destabilizing people) to keep our moral compasses calibrated, I think. One very cool thing about Steemit is that it breaks down the notion that in the ecosystem of the internet, you're either a host or a content creator, and hosts have carte blanche to take the monetary rewards by whatever means they see fit. The few content creators who are compensated aren't compensated very well.
Conceptually, blockchain is pretty simple and not very technical at all! I don't think either of us are going to become crypto miners or witnesses anytime soon, so a layman's understanding is probably sufficient. I recently explained blockchain to a small crowd of octogenarians (something I intend to write a blog about soon) and it actually went over pretty well.
I definitely look forward to reading thst post!