Cool Post!
I never really gave much thought about "giving without fearing to lose anything", in some way you really don't lose anything by upvote and even the meter will fill up after a while... not only that you even get something after a week so you can call it an investment.
I don't think this system showing the true value of content, too much is going on. But what I can tell is you can make money in steemit.
Do you have an easier time handing out upvotes, or do you consider their monetary value in terms of pool reward distribution?
In addition to what I wrote, I do find it easy to hand upvotes, and even when I see a low-quality content I feel like I can motivate them to improve (tho my upvote worth s*** :P ). Not sure if that's a good thing when it becomes just a "handing money" thing.
For now... why not :)