If the supply of Steem is limited....
And Steem power is part of that Steem supply...
It’s going to become harder and harder to power up.
I’m not complaining here, I know better now. I just want to share something that’s been on my mind since I got here and which has been popping up again now that Steem is starting to rise. Please feel free to correct me if I’ve miscalculated something.
Let me get back to what I was saying...
It’s going to be harder and harder to power up.
That’s not to say it will be very difficult to make money at Steem. All of us here right now will have a lot of Steem in comparison with all the new users coming in, and Steem could very well reach $100, meaning that even with 100 Steem power, you could potentially have an upvote worth more than x10 what it is now. That would put me at around a $4 upvote. Pretty cool, right? Most of us will likely make a whole lot of money from this platform.
So it’s all good, right?
Well, that depends on what you consider good. I hear a whole lot of bashing of “centralized” financial institutions, but are we really creating something truly different? A majority of bitcoin is held in the hands of a few whales. The situation at steemit is very similar.
Those who get on early will have been in the right place at the right time to have a lot of power...those who come later, will have to toil in order to have a tiny fraction of a chance at catching up to us. We may choose to throw them a bone, but even with good content, it will be unlikely for them to catch up with us. This is true for all cryptocurrency as far as I know. Early adopters are going to live like kings. For everyone else....it’s business as usual.
As exponentially powerful as all of us will be compared to the users who are new to steemit, the current whales and dolphins will also become exponentially more powerful than they are now and in comparison to the rest of us. That means it is unlikely that anyone will catch up to them unless they will it to be. Add to this the power of their massive upvotes which can be directed at anything they wish, and you have a system where a tiny minority has an unfathomable amount of power over the entire population of steemit.
How is this any different from the Centralized power structures with which so many of us are trying to escape?
Well, there are a few tiny differences, but the distribution of wealth is the same, it’s actually worse because the ability for whales to use their massive upvotes on themselves and their fellow whales, so that they’re ability to grow exponentially grows exponentially.
I know many whales here are good and decent people, perhaps many of them will act much more responsibly but...
Do we really want ANYONE wielding THAT much power?
Do we really want to play on that uneven a playing field?
At the very best, we will all be better off in this ecosystem then we were in our previous 9-5 jobs, as long as a few ultra whales will it to be. We’d better hope they don’t decide to use that power to push us around and limit our ability to succeed or that they don’t do anything to destroy the entire ecosystem, rendering our Steem worthless as they strategically move their massive funds elsewhere.
I don’t believe we should just shut up and be happy for our own gains. I believe we should be talking about this and searching for a more desireable future for all of us, where the word “decentralization” doesn’t just refer to the technology, but instead to the distribution of power.
I believe in decentralization of POWER, and we are not headed towards it, the way we are going now.
Still , I’m not giving up and I’m not going anywhere.
The world has entered a great transitioning into a future that we have yet to imagine. What that future looks like is up to all of us, as “value” is decided by us, collectively. We are right in the thick of it, here, at steemit.
Cryptocurrency, at the very least, brings this to our attention. A few years ago, thousands of bitcoin were worth a pizza. Now they are worth an estate. We are here at steemit deciding what has “value” and giving it that value through our upvotes, however small.
For the first time, I have a route towards the life that I’ve envisioned for myself, thanks to my experience at steemit and the opportunities of cryptocurrency. While I dont see crypto as the world we all dream of, the early stages of its growth have created a giant window for resources to shift. It’s exciting to be among you all and participating in this great experiment and trying to make better lives for ourselves, together.
The community is phenomenal. I’ve met so many incredible people and the potential for greatness is just overflowing from the relationships created here. It’s still a very exciting place to be. I don't bring this up to scare people from the platform or argue or complain. I bring it up because I believe there are great minds here who could come up with solutions and some with power who would be willing to listen and work out a solution.
If you feel there is a real problem here at steemit and in cypto and that it is recreating a world that looks too much like the world we are trying to retire, don’t throw in the towel or get depressed about it. Stay here and let’s work on a solution together. Eventually, through our efforts, more people will come to see that the answer does not lie in stronger technology alone but in stronger community, a willingness to help each other succeed, and a desire to support whatever benefits EVERYONE.
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