The Great Experiment: Steem
I recently read an article about how about 80% of all wealth is possessed by the top 20%. And within the 80% poorest, most of these live on much less than the average poor income. So lets say we have 100 units. One in five people will have about 80. Another will have 13, and the rest will have 4, 2 and 1. This is kind of a guess and leaves out the very richest who are so rare, but represents the general idea.
Since this polarity tends to hold true with Steem, Steem becomes a microcosm of reality on earth. But this is only a beginning. Hopefully both altruism and self-interest will inspire these rich whales to help those less fortunate. Unfortunately, others will rise up, more intent on winning than helping improve the overall system.
So the nature of reality, is that others will rise up through legitimate or less honorable means to become owners of the 80%. Having got there will mean that they may be extra ambitious, hard working, self-interested, or greedy. These have reason to help the system succeed, but how much will be for themselves and how much will be for others?
So this is a great great social experiment. Let us see what happens. And let us dolphins and others make a difference. How we do things will ultimately determine the results. It’s not all set in the heavens or scientifically and sociologically predetermined. How and what we do actually determines if we end like our world or better… or worse.
Since Steem is worth money, it is for real. It’s not a fun game, it’s an actual experiment in wealth distribution.
I think the wealth inequality will diminish as new users enter the platform and larger whales diversify some of their holdings into new projects. Users with large Steem holdings are usually early adopters who assumed most of the risk and therefore deserve to be where they are.
I don't disagree, but the fun cool thing about it all, is it mimics our world. Eventually people will buy influence, since the whales only have about $150,000 each, and then the real contesting and struggle will begin.
We had a discussion on another thread about buying influence. It destroyed Digg. Power users were accepting money to push content.
very interesting, need to find it. I suppose that since our power users are responsible, we'll do better. (I know you voted for me recently, thanx)
@treeleaves,
The rich gets richer. That's always true.
Yes, it takes money to make money. (I love your name by the way)
Thanks. Likewise.
Sorry, let me add this. Spinning money tends to help one make more money, but it isn't required.
It's so amazingly beautiful outside, the sun is reflecting from the east off some clouds, even tho it's evening time. Life is like that too sometimes. Events combine with our efforts to give us something beautiful and totally unexpected. It may require simply stepping outside and watching patiently.
The incentive to help others here is tied to gaining wealth. if you don't vote or comment you are not maximizing your power.
It's interesting to view Steemit in this perspective because yes, much of the STEEM power is invested in the top percent portion making it difficult for the users below them to have their information shared. I think it may be a different story once you have gained more STEEM power but I still think there are a lot of users who might be unfortunately overlooked due to this. What a shame, they have so much great information to share.
don't give up minnows, not yet!
Exactly! Minnows mature and so will everyone who is persistent!
Upvoted
So, I got the idea of 80% get 20% from someone somewhere, which inspired this, but cannot find it. Please reference them here, if you see it.
https://steemit.com/steem/@alexgr/the-ideal-of-fair-distribution-in-cryptocurrencies-and-steem-can-it-exist-in-real-life
I have the reference in the end, it's the pyramid of wealth:
first 41% of the wealth at 0.7% of the population
next 42.3% of the wealth at 7.7% of the population
So 8.4% of the population have 83.3% of wealth
There is another one too, I think
I've seen some pie-charts but the percentages are similar.
Great post! I've been thinking a lot about this too. It will be interesting to see where the community is at several years down the road. Will it still be a large amount of SP held by very few? Or will there be a whole ecosystem filled with whales, distributing wealth among communities of different interests, based on who all makes the greatest contributions to the group?
As a slight tangent, I just posted an article with a great 'how to' guide on how to buy Steem/SP in case anyone is looking to pick some up!
https://steemit.com/steem/@timcliff/steemit-how-to-invest-in-steemit-com-through-the-purchase-of-steem-or-steem-power-in-10-easy-steps
This a great post, and I'm guessing that you're referencing Pareto's principle.
I guess one could look as Steemit as an experiment in wealth distribution.
Let's continue the experiment and see where it takes us.
Thanks for writing and sharing this @treeleaves.
Hi! This post has a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of 5.1 and reading ease of 84%. This puts the writing level on par with Jane Austen and JK Rowling.