I've thought about posting this a lot, then reconsidered only to re-reconsider again. I've decided to finally just write this up and let it sit so those who read it can have a chance at weighing in with your own opinions and ideas as I am very curious to hear them.
The Blockchain is wonderful but people are fickle
Look at our history as a species and it's very easy to see what happens when power is centralized. It often results in some shitty things for the majority while the minority is kept elevated above the degeneration.
Social media has given us a portal into information exchange which the world has never seen prior to it and look at what we've chosen to do with it... memes, bullshit propaganda, brainwashing in the form of advertisements and behavioral manipulation. None of these are good things though some might argue on whether or not they're bad. I suppose that depends on which side you're on at any given moment... which brings me to the point of this article you're reading right now- sides.
Which side are you on?
The answer to this is simplistic at it's core. You are on your side, that's it. We all do things which are motivated by the self. It doesn't matter if you donate every last cent you had to some charity because you did it to fulfill some desire that was within you to go out and do that; every unselfish act is anchored to selfishness at the core.
So again I ask you... which side are you on? What influences your core and which direction will your intentions lean with regard to steemit. Chances are if you're a whale you're going to be influenced by the expansion of steemit and thus the growth of your own digital empire & riches.
If you are not a whale then you will probably fall into one of three camps:
- Those who have ambitions of becoming whales.
- Those who wish to use steemit for the sake of it being a new & interesting thing, whales be damned.
- Those who just really don't care either way, are curious and as soon as the curiosity dies you fade away.
The second and third group are very closely tied together as the majority with a general interest whom have no real ambitions of gaining influence will eventually become consumed with "real life" and wonder off to do other more productive things with their time. Let's face facts as they seem to be right now...
The steemit community is growing rapidly and as this happens more people will fall into various groups and at the end of the day the biggest group wins because it doesn't matter if there's no centralized power, the determining collective will always outweigh those who are not a part of the majority.
That begs the question then; who is the majority?
Is it the whales?
I think so... yes. Even though they are small in number their influence is BIG thus making them count as the majority. So then the question arises; "which direction will the minority follow and why?"
This is where things get weird
Taking into account everything which was just said above, I think the blockchain and everything which rests on it such as steemit and all future endeavors will rely on a fundamental shift in human consciousness. The way we think and weigh our options are founded on the "old model" or the old system of rewards. We don't yet know how to conduct ourselves based on this new model which has been proposed by steemit or the blockchain in general. This is a problem if it's not changed in my opinion.
Take a look around and you can see the old system in play.
We still have people attempting to police others based on personal opinion, and while that's fine to a degree some take it too far by performing actions which wind up hurting both parties in the longrun. Flagging posts which you "feel" have improper use of tags, the use of language or images you don't agree with yet these same things not necessarily falling in the realm of taboo or illegal- the list goes on but you get the point.
It's really genius when you think about it... it truly is.
What am I talking about?
The old system and why YOU need to break it
This is going to get a little philosophical, more so than it has been already.
Your entire life you've probably been programed to think and in turn act a certain way. Go to school, get a job, be a good little worker-drone then go home and sleep so you can wake up to do it all over again. This kind of mentality is what's beaten into our brains from childhood and it's all most of us will ever know.
How many of us have heard of someone breaking out of the 9 to 5, doing their own thing and making a great living for themselves? I'm sure you have a family member, a friend, some co-worker who knows someone... somebody!
What allows those people to get ahead of the crowd while the rest of those around them are stuck in the mud? It' the way you think, it's your beliefs and your ethics.
I think that steemit is either going to thrive to glorious heights or it's going to crash and burn miserably in the not so distant future- and it won't even be the system's fault, it'll be the people's.
Time after time I've seen it happen on numerous occasions. Something tremendous is created and then people come along and fuck it up with their fear and stupidity.
This is what I mean when I say it's up to YOU to break the old chain and the old ways and adopt the new chain, the blockchain. Unless we as people can overcome the old programing and beat-out those oldschool "values" which have been instilled in us since we've barely been able to talk we won't see success but instead just another failure.
Maybe I'm wrong
And I hope I am...
But nothing is ever "too big to fail" and that is evident time and time again. Empires have risen to great power only to collapse from within. It is the people who make up that power as a collective who will build something up.
It is also those same people who will tear it right back down.
Don't fuck up people- unlearn all those limiting, fear-inducing beliefs. The future of your's and everybody else's steemit ambitions depends on it. These are just my thoughts right now anyway and I expect them to shift and mold as steemit matures.