Thanks @bitcoinparadise!
I'm definitely looking forward to see how "Communities" play out, when they finally come to market. I feel hopeful that they might encourage at least "pockets" of the community where the conduct is a little less self-oriented.
I don't see anything inherently evil about selfishness and capitalism-- the problem here is "short sightedness." Sometimes if all you focus on are maximum rewards NOW, you don't get to have much of anything in the future. I also recognize that this is "new territory" to many of the people high up on the Steem chain... they suddenly have $500,000 in assets, "just like that." That's exciting! But it also can go away again, JUST AS FAST as it arrived, as a result of poor choices.
Yes, I believe "communities" can encourage "pockets" of the community to do this.
I agree in some aspect of the "short-sidedness." However, the way this platform is designed, it's a race to get as much STEEM as possible. At the same time yes, poor choices can have quite an effect.
I think the way the system was designed it will be a difficult for those high up to power down to lose their influencing power on the platform and the "capital" to continue earning more. I think the community tokens will change things for the better.
I do remain quite hopeful about "Communities," as well as hopeful that we'll see something concrete from the development team fairly soon... as I recall, the estimated "delivery date" was 2nd Quarter for that.