I mainly agree with you. Here is a questions though, would those employee still be motivated if you removed their base salaries or cut their salaries?
Hive is an economy or economy of smaller economies. Financial incentives are its dna. But you are right only focusing on financial benefits would make the participant more miserable than enjoying the journey and focusing on doing things they actually enjoy doing. It is in participants best interest to focus thing they like doing and figure out how they fit in within the Hive economy. There is room for everybody, for people from everywhere and all walks of life.
Networking, slow and steady growth, finding communities that are better fit for individual journeys makes participants time spent in more meaningful manner and be successful with financial gains as well.
Good point. I don't think cutting their salary will directly help. However, it is the whole package. I personally know people who took 50% play cut to live closer to the family. I know people to changed job for a lower salary but better work culture and quality of life.
While I can't speak for the author, I can state my own understanding and opinions.
For most people in our current system and especially those in the USA, unlikely. Most people barely make enough to get by and a salary cut would not go well unless the amount cut is being replaced with something that ultimately has more value to that individual.
However... almost all people have a drive to improve themselves, and arguably things would be a lot better if people had all their survival needs met regardless of their employment status. Humanity has reached a point where we could easily cover the basic needs of everyone if we put the effort into it, it's a long term investment that would lead to large increases in productivity and technological progress over the course of a few decades.
People would be more likely to go into riskier, more innovative, and more rewarding fields if they didn't have to worry about not being able to eat if things turn sour. We would ultimately end up with more great scientists, engineers, and innovators that would provide massive benefit to everyone. The worst jobs would end up getting automated, and the ones that can't be automated would still be filled as people would still want luxuries and many don't have the patience to go into the riskier fields.
Right now, the game is rigged, those at the very bottom are more likely to win the lottery than to significantly improve their situation by the end of their lives through hard work. Meanwhile, those at the very top barely have to lift a finger to stay where they are, and with minimal effort can accumulate more wealth at a rate that most people can't realistically comprehend.
Humanity must move towards a more egalitarian society, lest those at the very top will functionally become equivalent to feudal lords in the age of automation.
As for Hive, it would probably be better for Hive as a whole to place more incentive on things that are built up over the long term, such as reputation.
Building a platform on top of Hive that minimises the underlying monetary system, or potentially even completely hides it, is one of the projects I'm planning on looking into eventually once I've earned the resources needed to build such a platform.
Sure it will, if the employee don’t have any other job :) (I am trying to be funny)