I wonder what the likes of Plato and Aristotle would say about such developments in discussion.

Well perhaps as apt a comparison I can make is Socrates, who was sentenced to death for corrupting the youth of the city state of Athens. He chose the substance of his death to be made from hemlock, a truly foul poisonous plant that causes an agonising demise.

Is honesty a thinking mans hemlock?

History aside, I'm not wholly convinced decent content will ever be prevalent, nor reputation meaningful, while the options of bots exists. I'll be honest, I tried minnow booster a few days ago on a couple of posts and the gains felt cheap, so I guess I'm dooming any posts to obscurity by not feeling the urge to bot them to success.

Reputation can be bought on here, just as in the real world, but I wonder what it does to the minds of those who do so, or whether they feel it's of no consequence at all as long as the money rolls in...

So Hive account@tarazkp, just as in the trial of Socrates, will you be sentenced for corrupting the youth and introducing the deities of honesty and decency to the city state of steemit? 😉