RE: Thoughts On The State Of Steemit & Why Humility Is The Path To Wisdom
The first spam comment you received is a sad testament to the ethos of the post.
Your thoughts are an eloquent reflection of my own as we discussed in our conversation last week and indicative of the way many of us who started here a couple of years ago currently feel.
It seems that Steemit has reached a fork in the road and the choice the community makes at this point will be pivotal to the ultimate success or failure of the platform.
I have no idea which path it will choose but my instinct tells me there is more good here than bad so I’m hopeful however that is also true of the world itself and look how that’s working out right now.
Steemit is acting in tandem with the way our societies are currently, rife with division and petty squabbles as people seek to censor each other for difference of opinion and take sides in tit for tat flag wars.
Fundamental changes are a must IMO and if flagging and vote buying are here to stay then I don’t see a bright future for those who wish to speak their truth however obscene or disagreeable some may find it as the powerful will crush the weak.
Freedom to speak my truth and debate it with both those who agreed and disagreed is why I came but I saw the writing on the wall 12 months ago and decided to take a break from posting, I haven’t created a post since as it has become a fucking freak show I wanted no part of.
I’m happy to support those I respect and drop the odd comment and will write again if things change.
I’m not holding my breath mate.
Great post.
Hey my friend, hope you're looking forward to a good weekend! Always appreciate our conversations dude :) Like yourself, I really feel as though the platform has reached a watershed moment .. perhaps there will be a parting of the ways? I don't know, but I do know that the format feels pretty broken (and with a nod to our greater society) heavily weighted in the favour of those that have already accumulated vast arrays of steem. What is the old saying "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely"? .. it's quite interesting from a psychological perspective .. to observe the roles that people assume, but from a business/marketing analysis it's certainly not doing us any favours.
In many ways, as much as co-operation is seen as a cornerstone of a successful society, constructive disagreement is equally imperative. The world can be changed been by the civilised challenge and debate of dogmatic principles .. drowning out opposing perspectives and shouting into echo chambers does not bode well for the future of our species.
Like you say though, there are far more good on here than bad .. although I suppose the same can also be said for our greater society and still the madmen run amok. At least on here, the reward/flag format could be structured in such a way that it impedes abuse of the system. I will remain hopeful that there is an answer .. not least because I feel that #steemit (even if people aren't aware) is a kind of social experiment/test that points to our ability to feed and clothe ourselves outside of the machinations of the system .. and you know with the world being in pretty dire financial straights and the boom/bust cycle being a key component of our monetary system .. if we can't make a new system work (and I mean that in a broader context than just #steemit) then I fear (in banking terms) we will get what we deserve. Thanks (as always) for the great comment dude .. look forward to catching up soon. :)
I have long been unsettled by the aphorism you relate here, 'power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely', but never really was able to refine my unease until just now.
I disagree with it because I see examples of good folks empowered that do not become corrupted by it. What I do see is that the corrupt seek power, so they can abuse it. I observe that power attracts the corrupt, and absolute power is seized by the utterly corrupt.
We lament that the many good people in the world are overwhelmed by the relatively corrupt few that have sought and seized power to do harm to others to benefit themselves, and this is a result of how power is attained and effected. Generally IRL and on Steem platforms, it is stake-weighting through which power is effected, and seizing funds how it is attained.
Thus the concept of democracy is a rudimentary attempt to prevent stake-weighting to wield power over good but poor people. Machinations of the corrupt however corrupt political mechanisms, and so IRL oppression and profiteering result. So on Steem, via the same mechanisms: profiteering and extortion.
But DLTs and global communications are novel technologies, and potentiate novel solutions to ancient problems. While Steem may be too structured so as to effect stake-weighting, which has enabled the corrupt to extort and disenfranchise the principled, it is but an initial implementation of this technology, and open source at that.
If Steem cannot be a venue for just society due to structural faults, new implementations that avoid those faults certainly will be developed, and in time, as we gain understanding of how corruption is empowered to effect harm, we'll use this new technology wisely - humbly - to prevent power from being seized at the expense of principled folks that won't do harm for it.
If not today, soon.
Yes I agree, it is a throwaway statement doesn't withstand scrutiny .. funnily enough, after I wrote that comment my friend called and told me that in the town where I used to live there is a mysterious multi-millionaire that has been handing out cash to the disenfranchised, he keeps his ear to the ground and if he hears about people in trouble, he has been posting money (in fairly large amounts) through peoples letterboxes, he has been hiding money in newspapers (just to put a smile on peoples faces), sticking out of cash machines and slipping it into OAP's bags. And then I return to your message .. thank you for the reminder, we all need it once in a while. :)
Hey Buddy, I had a bit of a glitch in my system and replied to your reply to someone else
see below
What a tool 😂😂😂
Steemit could well be going through something like the terrible two’s or the annoying rhetoric of a obnoxious teenager, you just have to hope that they turn out right in the end.
As we’ve discussed before, it’s hard to see Steemit seemingly morphing into the kind of bullshit social media cesspool we came here to avoid.
As you know I’ve never had any social media accounts and I never really considered Steemit to be social media in the true sense however if I came here now and spent a few days checking it out I’d have less interest in becoming part of it which is a shame as there was a time when I had high hopes that it could be the beginning of the end for the now highly censored Fakebook.
I really hope I’m wrong for the sake of all those people who are creating communities, reporting real news and worthwhile content.
They deserve better.......
As always my friend .. the words nail and head spring to mind .. and yes they really do deserve better. :(