Many Steemit newcomers are being highly concerned about bot activity. And who wouldn't be really. We like to believe that we have an active role in society. We are sentient beings darn it and our judgment matters!
Except when it doesn't. Think about it. Whatever makes you, you is nothing but a conglomerate of beliefs that have been accumulated through time. Whether you like it or not, you have been programmed to act a certain way that falls under the constituents of your family, education and in a greater extent culture.
Whenever you upvote something you are mostly reinforcing your own views about something. You are actively rewarding your own capital. Similarly, a bot set up by a user has a similar approach. Your aim is to increase your intellectual and social capital and the bot aims to increase the user's financial capital. The financial capital on it's turn, if utilized correctly, has the potential to increase the intellectual and social capital of the user. Neither is unethical or immoral. It is what it is.
A bot cannot replace a real user. Mass adaptation of bots will render any platform mechanical and useless. People will start seeing no value and therefore abandon such an economic model. A free-market dynamic will ensure a balance between bot vs user generated activity.
We like to wish that we control our environment and that somehow we live in a genuine culture that rewards individuality and uniqueness. The matter of fact is that most people are on a cultural autopilot. What they consider unique about themselves is as unique as an orange on an orange tree. There is some molecular variation but for the most part is all the same recycled patterns.
Don't be bothered about bot activity. Times are changing. This phenomenon will increase as technology progresses. Instead try to work your strategy and adopt on this environment rather than trying to revolt against it. If anything Steemit provides the unique opportunity for us to test what is inevitably coming in the near future. Remember, much like Darwin himself has pointed out: the one who survives is neither the smartest nor the strongest but the one who is most adaptable to change.
I leave you with a similar message from Bob Dylan
