In my opinion, it is hard not to think about the future value of Steem, especially if one is spending a lot of time on the platform. It really doesn't matter whether you are positive or negative, whether you think the chance is slim to none, or pretty good (like I do), the fact is that it is much like thinking about the "what if I won the lottery?" question.
What if I did win the lottery, would I still spend my time on Steem?
A client of mine has asked me if over the next few months of sessions, we can develop a plan for his continuance on the career path as he feels he has more to offer the world than he currently is. It is funny because not at one point did I get the impression from him that it was about ambition or more money - but am sure he wouldn't mind the additional responsibility and bump in salary.
In the same session though, he also mentioned that if he won the lottery, he wouldn't be working in the company he is in currently, but he would still be actively working. This is something that I feel too, and while I do not enter the lottery (other than on Steem each post), I believe that given the conditions of no conditions where I was free to do as I please near completely, I would do other work.
But, I am pretty sure that my Steem activity would be at the forefront still. The reason is that while I can work in a company for money and I could work on Steem similarly (for a fair bit less), I consider what we are doing here to be of greater importance than just being about earning, and the potential for Steem to add value to the world is likely higher than most daily jobs can offer.
Most jobs in this world are not only unnecessary, they are more likely to be in established industries that are probably more concerned with their own economic survival than actually improving conditions of life for ourselves as a species. Don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean they have no value, but if you could imagine a world where every job provided real value to the advancement of our species at all levels that matter, we would likely be doing different work on average.
However, if I didn't have to worry about my economic survival after winning the lottery, I would likely change some of the work I do on Steem as I would have more possibility opened to me. Perhaps instead of being a content producer, I would be more of a project manager, and since I would have bought a bit of Steem with my lottery winnings, I would have some potential to support the development myself. Even the best ideas need support in order to succeed.
As said, I do not enter the lottery so my chances of winning are much worse than the normal odds, which are far from good. However, I do believe that being on Steem is a kind of lottery win for those who see this as a place of early adoption to build for the future, not early adoption to make money in the future.
I think that due to the nature of the infrastructure and industry, the builders have essentially no ceiling on their potential, but those who are looking to earn through selling or posting alone have a lower ceiling than they might imagine as they become more of the enduser in the equation and rely on the support of others. Whereas a builder is one who builds the mechanisms of that support.
I believe that in the next decade or two, the builders are going to fundamentally change the way business operates as well as provide a great deal of possibility to empower endusers. Those endusers can of course do very well, but what should be really exciting is the prospect that they themselves can be part owners in the infrastructure and help support the development that supports them.
This is not a "ask not what your country can do for you..." scenario, it is where the blockchain and the user are supportive of each other in a complex relationship of quid pro quo. The blockchain offers a marketplace where all sorts of somethings can be given, and all sorts of somethings can be received in a secure and trustless network that will become more stable over time through usage and development. While it doesn't ask from users anything in particular, that stability comes from us, the users, the builders, the supporters.
While the process to build this kind of network and business infrastructure is messy and filled with social and technological challenges, I believe that the attempt to do so is more valuable than many people currently realize, even those who are early adopters of what has been achieved so far.
While many expect things should have moved faster and achieved more, the speed of development is not up to the blockchain or the code, it is up to us as users who act upon and develop it and the industry. It is likely that if on Steem we had spent more time collaborating on diversified projects and less time bickering over the reward pool, we would be further along the production line, but that in itself can be seen as part of the progress as our mindsets change frame.
I do believe that Steem can fail to achieve everything that it has the potential to, I also believe that the biggest hurdle in its way is us as users - not banks, not governments and definitely not other blockchains.
Many people waste the opportunities which winning the lottery provides them. Maybe on Steem, we are spending our winnings ahead of the win to come, and the value of the win will depend on what we enter now.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
