What is the Steem Network? Trace Mayer dips in his toes with Chris Coney
Hey Steemitsters!
Well, it seems the Steem community enjoyed my introductory post yesterday and I got some great questions so there will probably be more posts in the future as I continue digesting information on the subject. Just like with Bitcoin I stayed up late last night and read the entire Steem whitepaper. Fascinating!
A fellow podcast host Chris Coney (Twitter) reached out in the comments and we jumped on Skype to do a quick interview about the Steem network and some of my thoughts about it. Thanks to Chris for being patient with me. I am still a Steem noob but I do know that this area of content creation, journalism and social media currently have massive pain points because of misaligned economic incentives.
In this interview we discuss (1) what the Steem network is, (2) the crypto-tokens it uses, (3) the economic value it adds, (4) attention in the Information Age, (5) censorship and voting brigades, (6) current pain points in this area [including massive governmental intervention and propaganda] and (7) much much more.
I really hope the Steem community finds this interview helpful and I plan on bring more time and attention to bear on this subject!
Please let me know what you think about it in the comments. Any discussion, comments or suggestions would be really helpful for this new experiment. We want to hear from you!
Regarding the whales cooperating to game the system for their benefit: If they annoy too much people, market cap of Steem will go down and whales are the ones who will suffer the most. That's why they don't have an incentive to do anything bad for the ecosystem.
It's easiest to whales to benefit by helping the ecosystem to grow. The bigger is the market cap of Steem, the more valuable is their Steem Power.
That is a great point.
State Department Grilled Over $400,000,000 USD to Iran Lie
https://steemit.com/cia/@cryptocurrency1/state-department-grilled-over-usd400-000-000-usd-to-iran-lie
Game theory -- like a bause.
@samupaha I hope you are right, but it’s pretty disappointing to see the way it works now.
@tracemayer Do the current incentives really provide better gatekeeping? It seems to me that they don’t, unless you think the judgement of the major stakeholders is so vastly superior and that they are right in mainly upvoting each others’ posts.
Isn’t it pretty much understood by now that “good” content is mainly content by people who have already been making a lot of money from their posts, and aren’t these mainly the well-known figures who may have valuable things to say but they still seem to be overcompensated by it? And they are also highly compensated when they put out drivel.
Are the whales just gaming it for the time being until people get too annoyed and then they’ll stop, or do some major changes need to be made proactively?
It seems to me that encouraging people to “pan for gold” (in curating) the way it currently works is really encouraging people to use their time unproductively, watching and waiting to pounce first rather than doing something more useful with their time. Good or “good” content is going to tend to rise to the top anyway, so why over-incentivize/over-compensate the first few people who discover it? I have the impression, especially with so many articles having now been written about it, that there is now a large number of people just sitting around trying to be the first to upvote what will become popular content.
Some whales and dolphins are trying to draw attention to “hidden gems” but even their criteria is confusing. Some of the gems aren’t such high quality content, and some of them are very high quality content but by already pretty popular authors.
One final thing I want to mention is that I think it’s a bad idea that posts can’t earn after four weeks. This de-incentivizes people who are building up content for communities that barely exist on Steemit yet.
Thanks for the opportunity to think about and discuss this.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Brilliant!
@tracemayer: this was an excellent discussion between you two. Thank you for posting. @marketingmonk knows his stuff.
IRT your discussion on 'controlling narratives', I wrote [this for BTCMagazine back in Feb and it ties in directly with that: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/i-m-a-former-green-beret-here-s-how-i-would-bring-down-bitcoin-1456165726
Nice to hear the topic regaining traction with all of the news about the hacks coming out recently. Awareness of the tactic and strategy is the best defense.
enjoyed listening to the conversation
Exciting news to read, thank you, and, as for everyone on the Steem network, look froward to the bright future of it. all for one and one for all! Namaste :)
I use to listen to Trace Mayer Podcasts on BlockChain Technology. Now I can support Trace work here on Steemit. Congrat!
yeah, it is awesome that we can give him money for a new epsiode only via an upvote. Crazy world we are living. :P
"I stayed up late last night and read the entire Steem whitepaper"
Great! You might be getting the "Steem bug" ;)
I can't wait for your posts on the subject.
Being new to CryptoCurrency and a contributor to steem, this is very enlightening, thank you for sharing!! Consider yourself followed so I can learn more! Thank you!!
Clap clap
@tracemayer Excellent interview ! Upvoted ! (Already following) The more I learn of you the more I like. (This has been going on for a couple years now, lol)
As to the podcast. One of the points that I really liked is your excitement about the possibilities of steemit.com. I'm 55 and know that MOST "older" folks and even most of the younger people don't (imo) really understand what the possibilities are of immutable access to information.
Were you aware that most small town libraries are now filling the shelves with "pop" culture books and retiring the "Books that don't sell"? We are being "professionally" (As was mentioned in the podcast) inundated with misinformation. In America It is so hard to have a "real" conversation with a stranger, friends or even family because most (imo) are educated with "soundbites" and magazine articles that are for the most part, pure tripe.
This Neo education is what all intellectuals are upset about. How can we proceed to be free in this environment? Steemit.com could become an unbelievable resource (imo) as long as we continue to entice people like yourself, that are "classically" educated (Meaning, checking Referencess before accepting as truth.)
It is so hard now to talk to most people about economics, and the direct relations to freedom. Most don't understand the basic concepts, much less Austrian views. The discussion ends there with a plea to look at mises.org ... People talk about freedom but have never read "The law" or have never even heard of F. Bastiat, or for that matter, Von Mises, Rothbard, Hayek or Menger and heaven forbid mentioning Rand or Atlas Shrugged. Who IS John Galt !!!
Not to mention of course "Jekyll Island" or even "The Creature from Jekyll Island", Kudos to you btw, for that interview with G. Edward Griffin !!! That was another great interview. what a great man !
Sorry for the rant, I loved the podcast !
Excellent points. Education truly is the key to opportunity. Fortunately what people do understand is their own standard of living. And when one can break through on that point then one can really make an impression. Plus, truth will cleave its own way.
For example, my father's first job out of college paid 25.7 ounces of gold per month or about $500,000 per year at current exchange rates. For a college graduate with no experience. That is how much the State has conscripted the average American person's standard of living into the industrial complex!
preaching to the choir !, lol, but a very good point ... no opposition here though !
I wish i could remember my sources better ..argh, lol here is one for you.
The price of gold ... 1k yrs ago with 1 oz. of gold you could purchase a NICE robe, a handmade belt and a pair of handmade high quality sandals. Today with 1 oz. of gold you can purchase a very nice suite, a handmade belt and a pair of handmade high quality shoes ...
Nothing has changed but the deception of what we call money ... !
I have never really seen a credible and verifiable source for that assertion. Anyway, what one would want from their money is for the price of other goods and services to decrease relative to it. This would indicate greater productivity in the economy.
After all, if society is now using tractors and semi-trucks instead of plows and horses then you would hope to have an increased standard of living. Sure, there is the Golden Constant to deal with, from Professor Jastram, but that should be the general trend.
And that is largely what humanity has seen since around 1800 the average person in the most developed countries earned about $2.00 per day in today's value.
Great interview. I feel the whole Steemit universe is still finding its feet and as more high quality content producers join it will evolve and change. This is sure to piss of some of the early adopters but that's the way thing go.