Harpooning the Idea of Whales ......

in #steemit7 years ago (edited)



I first heard of Steemit because I have an interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain and I first heard of blockchain because I have an interest in things that are decentralised and promote equality. All the worlds problems are caused by too much power in the hands of too few people. Blockchain struck me as a type of 'digitised fairness' where all people can truly be considered equal , and the beauty of mathematics could be used to write human weaknesses out of the equation.

 
Crypto ..... Kryptonite to Banking Scum. 


Its the antithesis of central banking , its de-central banking where you have complete power over your wealth, and trans-actions are between two transactors rather than including an invisible parasitic intermediary skimming wealth from both parties whilst contributing nothing.


So Im excited, it's truly a great time to be alive, the internet decentralised information and now the blockchain is set to decentralise ..... Well.... Everything! The world truly has a chance at freedom and equality and for once a type of technology seems to have come along that is incorruptible, that can't be bought out and can't be compromised. Its early days yet but so far I think there's every reason to believe that blockchain could like the printing press bring about a renaissance period in human developement.


 The Age of internet enlightenment


I've enjoyed the work of Jeff Berwick on youtube for many years now, he's a man I align with on many topics and his honest assessments of how the state apparatus work are very accurate. Hence why he makes so many good calls, because he understands that centralised power no matter what it calls itself is a danger to all humanity. He describes himself as an "Anarcho-Capitalist" .... Anarchism meaning "No Rulers" (Archon is ruler in Greek and in Gnosticism), Capitalism in its purest form is simply allowing free markets to work as they should. Good ideas rise to the top, poor ideas fall away. Its important to realise that the free market is not a man made system, its a system of nature. 

 
Nature has rules, and humans have wants and needs, if an idea aligns with these natural laws it should fair well on the free market, if it doesn't it should sink away and die. This isn't how things work at the moment because we don't live in a meritocracy we live in an oligarchy where rich people decide everything. Bailing out broke banks is a really bad idea, but it doesn't matter because the rich want it. Overthrowing stable regimes and starting wars is a really really bad idea, doesn't matter because the rich want it. Clean energy and clean food are great ideas but that won't matter because the rich don't want them .... Not for us anyway. 

The point I'm making is that centralising decision making and power is a provably bad idea! 



.... And so on Mr Berwicks great advice I joined Steemit. 

 
Ive had my account for almost a year but have only recently found time to contribute and there are some lovely enlightened people here on Steemit it really is a hotbed of ideas and information. I'm truly not on here for money, and so I'm in a position where I feel I can give my honest opinion without worrying if I upset a few people. 

 
My problem with Steemit (and it is a huge elephant in the room type problem) is that its a centralised system! A hierarchy with Whales at the top and the incredibly patronising term of "minnows" at the bottom. Its everything I had hoped Blockchain would put a stop to, with power in the hands of a few rather than the many. Is it just me that finds this odious? This is not a meritocracy at all its no different to how any corporate entity operates, with wealth and power being filtered to the top of the pyramid. 

Its the blockchains version of Hillarys "Superdelegates" Its Facebook with just a few more Zuckerbergs sharing the spoils. 

Heres a quote from a Steemit post explaining this hierarchical system ...... "Valuable content is defined by content that whales and dolphins will up vote" That nearly made me puke all over my keyboard! 

 
Valuable content should be decided in the public domain, on its merit, not on the opinions of a few .....



Give me all your Steem this is a robbery!


Four Fins good , two fins bad


This is the definition of ELITISM. Not to mention the fact that you can purchase this power on Steemit if your already wealthy. Theoretically George Soros could invest a few million and start creating and upvoting posts promoting globalism and child sacrifice and he would do well simply because he's rich!

 
Everyone should get the same voting powers surely? If thats not the case then the platform by definition is a platform for inequality.

 
The idea of a "minnows support group" is equally as patronising and is clearly an attempt for those holding the power to placate the 'Minnow' masses and stop any awkward 'Emporers New Clothes type moments. New users don't need charity if they are contributing decent content, alls they need is a fair level playing field. The reason minority groups need support in our real society is because the top heavy system is so unfair on them to begin with, why use that as a model?


  


I know criticism on Steemit is quite rare, because people don't want to effect getting rewards, I don't think this is a good thing as constructive criticism often leads to positive change. I feel like I've just walked into a Church on a Sunday and started shouting expletives , but if this issue is never raised it could really harm Steemit in the long term. I've already suggested in some comments that Steemit needs a real hard fork, forming a Steemit Classic much like Ethereum for example, a new platform appears that ensures in its mechanisms its decentralised and everyone gets a fair vote. Merit and good content become the primary factors leading to wealth. Lets see how that would do in a fair fight? Id take the Pepsi challenge ....


As for voting on this post, to all Whales and dolphins ...... you can stick it in your blow hole!! 



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But don't we have busy.org in case steemit is down? You can be there, too.

Wow, awesome post. :-)

While I agree with you completely, although, in a moderately less well-articulated manner, I do not feel that the ethos of steemIT runs counter to your point.

Rather, I think that the current state of this decentralisation of "steem power" is an inevitable result of the system just getting started.

The concept of power distributed by contribution to the community seems sound to me, and, this was my perception of what SteemIT is trying to achieve, however, it is difficult to get to that point when you have a group of people who had a massive head start by being very early adopters. (Much like capitalism I guess.)

AndThis

"Theoretically George Soros could invest a few million and start creating and upvoting posts promoting globalism and child sacrifice and he would do well simply because he's rich!"

Which, while hilarious, is too true and throws a huge spanner in the works.

Is however, what I think will drive the value of the coin and thus the incentive for contribution, let's just hope it happens in a more benign fashion though. :-)

While you are too right about the current state of power centralisation, my hope is that it evens out as the system matures.

Thanks for the share man, it was a very stimulating read.

Now take my minnow steem power. :-)

Haha thanks a lot my friend , enjoyed your take on things. a lot of what I wrote is a bit tongue in cheek I'm glad you picked up on that .... Im pretty confident of the technology to always win through. Its like all the times they have shut down The Pirate Bay, they cant kill it off because its a good idea!

I just thought I'd throw some concerns out there and see what kind of response i get, I think thats an important part in any co-operative process too so we can all progress together.

Thanks for your Minnow vote I'll put it towards the Harpoon gun Im saving for

;)

I agree completely mate, nothing would ever get better if no-one ever ran a critical eye over anything.

Also, I appreciate the George Carlin in your about section. :-)

Happy whaling season.

How would you propose an alternative steemit would function? Let all votes be completely equal? How do you incentivise such a system?

Most voting systems work that way? You don't get 100 votes when you vote in an election do you? You don't need to incentivise voting other than the incentive being your appreciation of good content. Its fairly self explanatory. One vote one fish!

One vote one fish gave us Donald Trump... Although the problem there probably has more to do with people not bothering to vote. I just feel like you still need some kind of system that rewards contribution and I agree steemit in its current form isn't sustainable. Not sure what the best solution is to be honest with you but these are issues that the community should be discussing often so it is encouraging to see a post like yours to open up the debate.

Thanks, I was trying approach it with some humour , ruffle a few feathers but only in a friendly way. Im not sure one vote one fish produced Trump though its more complicated than that in many ways it was a response against years of ineffective voting, which kind of backs up my arguments rather than disproves them.

GammaRat, it turns out that all exponential technologies create "new whales. " Early adopters and creators are the new millionaires and billionaires. Think of one of the 13 exponential technologies that has not created new whales. This is true of Bitcoin and Etherium. We see it in Google, Facebook, Amazon, Tesla. In my life coaching, a primary recommendation is to create a new idea, product or service that will positively impact at least 1 billion people. How do you come up with that idea? But joining and learning Steemit and other exponential opportunities. View the Steemit whales as your mentors. Take your frustrations and create a new coin/service that fixes the shortcomings you mentioned. As a knowledge engineer, it is good to learn and enable ideas that are currently working. This was my approach as I came out of college. PC's and Microsofts were just coming on the seen. I joined IBM,but still keep starting new companies, ideas, real estate and market investing. Steemit is the first of many services that will transition folks into a knowledge data driven society. This society values trusted identities, reputations, quality content, impactful ideas and services. Check out Yavul Hoah on Ted Talks. He has good insights into this space. I will continue to follow you as you find your way on this path to abundance... Sorry to sound so hoakey and sappy...

Im really not on a path to abundance my friend, success is also subjective. I don't need any success or advice on my personal life thank you and I most certainly don't need a "mentor" ... I think you misunderstand my point as I have no problem at all with early adopters and Entrepreneurialism being justly rewarded, also the hard work people put in should be worth extra wealth , my issue is that a voting system with disproportionate power in a small number of hands is antithetical to what fair voting means. If all these technologies create Whales then theres a definite gap in the market for something that doesn't wouldn't you agree? You can have the idea free of charge , don't say i never give youanything ;)

Yes I agree with you. I am sure there are those already working on a more equitable approach to Steemit. If it can not be done here, they will start their own Coin/Service. Sort of a wild Wild West approach to this now. Barriers to entry are pretty low.

I like it! Wild West spells exciting times to me. Freedom is by definition dangerous, if all anyone wants is a risk free life wrapped in the cotton wool promises of the state then true freedom will never be attained. The crypto space is the new frontier , dangerous, exciting and free!

Lol, nice use of a Joseph Campbell quote. He's my favorite, not that it would be too surprising if your read my post about animal medicine. It's all about beloved symbolism. I LOVED you analogy of super-delegates being whales. So fitting, and and as a Bernie Sanders delegate definitely prompts the anger and passion you yourself are putting out. Following!

Thank you ..... a Joseph Campbell fan is a welcome addition , the quote was completely out of context actually but as I love his work i included it .... I'll read your post now!

Yea, kinda. But I took it as a suggestion for a different approach. We're supported by whales and should be fishing for new users..... to help the sustainability of steemit as a whole : ) At the very least it prompted the contemplation, so it's still very fitting :)

Maybe , I think I'd rather support myself though, Simon and garfunkle keeps going through my head 😂 .....

Id rather be a Minnow than a Whale,
yes I would,
if i could ...... I surely would 🤣

I believe things will change once the Steemit sea is churned up a bit by more users. This hardfork affected the whales voting power just a little bit more, so we are slowly working on this issue.

Its true and yet my point of view is attacked mainly by new users , plankton I call them as they are smaller than minnows. The platform should be organic and should encourage criticism. I criticise all systems because i feel a system should never be rigid it should always be changing and trying to improve , fluid. More people need to raise these issues rather than just going along hoping for a leg up from a seabound mammal.

Again, I agree. For instance look at this absurd post that was trending a few days ago,
https://steemit.com/whales/@aggroed/fondling-whale-balls-a-primer-for-minnows-on-talking-to-whales
It was so egotistical and I'm astounded at how many people where patting him on the back. I bet more people felt like u n i on this issues, and disagreed, but if they did they would probably be blacklisted, be absent that's the kind of operation that is being run here. Almost like these whales never felt more powerful than they have on steemit and don't know how to handle this power humbly and wisely.

We are definitely on the same page. The whole grading of people is really unacceptable to me. Content should be the thing we grade and rate, not users. Being referred to as a 'Minnow' by some pencil necked techy is laughable. I read that post actually the other day, it was utter nonsense. Blockchain is "decentralised" technology I don't see how people can not be disappointed at it being used to power a centralised dictatorship. I really see a gap in the market for a blockchain based social media platform that keeps fair voting and good content as a priority, not the opinions of 80 or so egomaniacs.