Understanding the free market (or how you should learn to stop worrying and not be butthurt)
The Steem network is a decentralized free market. There are some governance elements within the code, but by and large, it's a nearly perfect free market. Libertarian, anarchist, whatever you may call it.
A lot of people seem to "believe in anarchy", but often don't seem to be aware the rules of the game. So, when the time comes, there's some extreme butthurt. Anarchy is all cool... till it bites them in the arse. Reality check, that's exactly what you signed up for. Indeed, anecdotally, rampant butthurt is Steem's emotion-du-jure, and defines what it means to be a Steemian. Maybe there would be less butthurt incurred if you adjust your expectations to reality. With that said, here's how a free society works -
- No one gives a rat's ass about you. You're completely irrelevant.
- You're owed rat shit. You're entitled to absolutely nothing.
- There's no concept of fairness or justice at all. Any cries about what is fair and unfair is totally irrelevant.
- Everyone can say what they want, upvote what they like, and downvote what they don't. If you accept the upvotes, you are obliged to accept the downvotes.
- Scammers and criminals have an inherent advantage over altruistic, peaceful people.
- They can and will abuse you, and there's not one damn thing you can do about it.
- Except lick some whale balls. They control this market absolutely.
7b) There's zero correlation between pending payout and "quality of content". Pending payout is directly proportional to how well you can shill yourself to the whales. - So the next time you're butthurt about perceived "unfairness", better power up some Steem to set things right.
Are you OK with all of that? Then you can call yourself a true anarchist. If your expectations are aligned, then perhaps you'll never be butthurt.
If, however, that sounds like a brutal world - well, tough luck fellas. There's no free lunch here. Except for the whale balls.
On a serious note, there's some relief from the brutal free market. Communities are incoming, and I expect some really well moderated, benevolent communities to form. Your favourite communites be your shelter. That won't save you from whale whims, though. For that, the Steem community can get together and take action. If that doesn't work, discuss laws in code, that may attempt at a free market with less injustice. These changes in laws / constitution are expressed as hardforks that your elected government (witnesses) may choose to adopt. It's an intriguing experiment. (Or just build a judiciary system like EOS plans to.)
"The first criterion that defines freedom is the ability to deprive others of their freedom. What would be the point of being free and what, in concrete terms, would it mean, if one could not trample on the freedom of others? That is the primary expression of freedom." (Foucault, M, 1976 'Society must be defended' p. 157).
This somehow seemed like a quote I had to dig up and share.
The same principle seems to apply to anarchism whose tenants require freedom and an acceptance that there are winners and there are losers. In an anarchistic society those who wield power deserve to do so and they are not supposed to be held accountable via justice or fairness or some such nonsense.
Note: If you are an anarchist who believes that you should not be subject to rules and control, and you are, then suck it up. Clearly those who make the rules are more powerful then you and they can do what they like right?
Great post! :)
Anarchy doesn't mean you are free from rules, only that there are no rulers: an-archy, no-rulers. That's what it means. It doesn't say no-rules. Rules can be created by a community that agrees to them and upholds them, with consequences for their violation enacted by the whole community, not one or a few ruling over everyone else where they can create and violate any rules they want. Just like one person can enact consequences on another's wrong-actions in anarchy, a community can do the same.
One person's freedom ends where another's begins. Freedom doesn't come without consequences when people can act. Unfortunately, on Steemit you can't act physically onthe same level, the ability to act comes with SP. Those who have the most SP have the most ability to act.
And where does another's freedom begin? Their private property? Because most anarchists are against private property.
I find anarchismt to be a tedious long form to get around to being a benevolent authoritarian. There are of course rules - the rules made by the community. And there is of course inherent tyranny in this - potentially more so than in alternative systems. Why? Because who is responsible? Nobody in particular, yet everyone who accepted and are enforcing the rules.
Moral laws are the rules. Rules of conduct for behavior based on how behavior creates harm to other beings. Freedom of behavior ends when you create harm for others. People, like false "anarchists", who believe the fruits of your labor are not yours... are confused. It violates moral law, the rules we can easily recognize and agree to because they are how things are morally.
You perfectly described what the stemit platform is and how it works. You just forgot to mention one small detail. Everybody is free to leave at any moment.
It's difficult to leave behind potential $$$. Greed is all-consuming.
Greed, such an infantile faculty. Goes to show just how devolved this species is, and the statement that it would be in any way "all-consuming" evident solely of your own ignorance into factual processes.
In short; successfully indoctrinated.
Congratulations.
This is the thing - what will happen to Steemit if too many people leave - or if everyone who creates content rather than scamming of shilling leaves? If that happens I suspect those predictions of STEEM rising in value over time due to millions of new users will never happen.
@liberosist, thanks for putting this out there.
I was confused when i got on steemit and started reading exactly the opposite of what have been told about the platform but as it is in the real world where no one give a fuck about you,
Expecting fairness that might never come is like expecting the government to give you extra dolls for just showing up in the stadium.
As it is presently, its better to work yourself out and get some really crazy steem power then you can start gaining relevance on the platform.
lol. This Is Some Insane Hardcore truth. I'm Literally Crying as I laugh right now. I believe this system has many potentials and what you do here only gets to the trending pages if you are friends with some whales. I really love this piece. It's Right On Point And it hurts like something. I think my followers need to see this.
I guess the CTO of EOS learned from Steemit. An community with (almost) absolute freedom like Steem/Steemit is, and on top of that no social control due to most of us Steemians being anonymous, result in exactly what you describe in your post; The only way to earn money is by licking the balls - in one way or the other - of the big fish.
From the moment I started understanding Steem and Steemit, I tried to convince Steemians we need some kind of justice system what can result in a larger amount of rules hardcoded into the Steem blockchain, can result in additional services around the Steem blockchain, and can result in some kind of community justice enforcement teams. Foremost such justice system shall make the level of abuse smaller (whatever the community decide to be abuse), and drive a better power distribution. For some reason the Steem blockchain removed some of the hard coded rules defined in an earlier stage, giving more freedom to the community, and allowing more abuse and scamming. Interesting developments I must say.
You nailed it. It’s s tough world out there, and bad things can and will happen, but that is the price to pay for Liberty over security. Lick whale balls made me laugh.
I'm unfollowing people who bitch about how the system has been "unfair" to them. It's a voluntary system, people. You don't like it? Figure out a way to improve it (that doesn't involve endless bitching) or leave. It's that simple.
I am always stating that we have got to be the change we want to see in the world and I am sharing this often with my posts..
I believe it all has to do with everyone's expectations entering steemit(or any other place as a matter of fact).
might not be the solution, but definitely is a start.
Greetings & Good Vibes to Everybody :)
And invest some money in steem power.
For those that can afford it, absolutely YES!
Thank you for commenting :)
And with this comment you earned a new follower!
Bitching about it is the first step in changing it.
You have to name the problem before you can fight it.
So your actions are actually counterproductive.
That said, if they stop at the bitching level, even if you have patted them on the head and told them they should now do something constructive, then it is okay.
That is not completely true though. It is not zero. But being mightily friends with a whale (or more) brings more $ then being good.
edit:
Yesterday I wrote a bit about the tradegy of the commons
https://steemit.com/life/@lennstar/the-tragedy-of-the-untended-commons
and there will be more commons based posts in the future. So if you are interested in this topic, how people can work with each other without screwing themselves up, be free to follow ;)
I’m not licking any body parts and my butt doesn’t hurt😝🤣🤣🤣
meh. Anarchism is anti-authoritarian at its root, so it's anti-capitalist. Steemit is a blockchain version of failed-state capitalism. I wouldn't call anything on here anarchist
Steem is anarcho-capitalist, if you wish to be pedantic.
not trying to be pedantic. just wouldn't want to sully the good name of anarchism with what goes on in this place
Good name? You mean the ideology that has failed every single time, throughout human history.
This is what I am looking forward to. I agree with your assessment of the Steemit situation. I've been through the disheartened and back again phase several times. It's pointless. Now I concentrate on being a blogger of content that I am happy to put out there. This time around the interaction from the community has increased a lot. Doesn't equate to the big bucks some people get for every single (same same) post, but that's life, as brutal as that can be.
The tag of circlejerk was rather apt, I thought. Thanks for your enlightening input.