There is a very old saying that seems to be true: "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely". This tends to be true in business, politics and other social interactions where dominance is first established and then exploited.
So, I wonder how a social media site influenced by its own native power structure, Steem Power, will fare moving forward. Since weak members derive a direct benefit from promoting and sucking up to other more powerful members, determining what is authentic versus contrived friendliness and support is difficult.
It appears from my research that members with Steem Power develop a gravity of their own, which is independent of their content. This isn't to suggest that those with Steem Power are doing anything wrong. It is simply the nature of the system.
Moving forward, assuming that Steemit is a success, I wonder what negative consequences will follow. There is little doubt in my mind that those at the top of the mountain will benefit from the Steemit system. However, will there be a lasting appeal to the Minnows? When a Whale gives a thumbs-up or "Me too" the rewards flow. When a Minnow asks a question about the corrupting influence of power, will anybody care? Is this an important question? We shall see...
Crapitalism is the underlying problem, not as much as rule by force, but close.
Rule by force is the disease, who and how are symptoms.
This is only the second time that somebody commented on one of my old posts, so thank you.
I'm not so sure that the Steemit system is capitalism. It seems to be more of an evolving oligarchy. Capitalism, at least to a certain extent, operates on the laws of supply and demand. While it is true that through the Pareto principle the distribution of wealth accumulation under the capitalist system is highly skewed toward the few, Steemit is something else. This system by design distributes wealth to the wealthy and to the gangs that propagate the system.
Under capitalism the uneven results are a consequence of a complex set of interactions, while on Steemit the uneven distribution is just part of the programming code.
Lol, if you can separate crapitalism from it's need of impoverished wage slaves to keep wages low and profits high, you let me know, eh?
Wage slaves are needed for capitalism to work to be sure. It is not necessary that they be impoverished. This isn't to suggest this doesn't frequently happen, but it is not a prerequisite.
Speaking of poverty, in absolute terms there has been great progress, especially in nominally capitalist, "free market" (I use the term very loosely of course) countries. In the old days poverty meant absolute destitution, the chance of starvation, and limited to no access to health care, housing and basic needs.
Today, many people "below the poverty line" have food, shelter, healthcare (in at least a basic form) and frequently modern conveniences such as computers, TVs and cell phones. If a time traveller from 200 years ago went to a poor neighbourhood in Canada (my home) they would be absolutely amazed beyond belief at how rich everybody was.
So, I guess that how we perceive conditions and even commonly used terms like "poverty" are quite subjective. Perhaps I shall blog about this point on my main channel.
Well, when millionaires are cleaning the quadrillionaire's toilets, and a loaf of bread is 80,000 each, it all becomes academic, right?
Low wages and high profits is what crapitalism does.
Rather than working, and sharing, communally, the few live like kings and the disenfranchised live under bridges.
UBI would mitigate, but ultimately only mask, the real problems of accruing wealth to the few.
Thank a socialust?
Looking Backwards tells the story of time traveling crapitalusts.
Tell that to the panhandlers on every corner,...
I am personally a Libertarian. We can be friends anyway. LOL!
My belief, from years of observation and experience is that government rarely does anything well. When they reallocate resources, mostly to themselves of course, they even frequently make situations worse. Moreover, once a bureaucracy is created, it acts as a virus that exists in perpetuity regardless of its utility.
So, rather than capitalism or any other ism across the spectrum, it is state power that is most dangerous, violent, expensive and counterproductive to individual freedom and advancement.
Well, as long as your utopia doesn't start pointing guns at me,...
Rule by force is the disease, who and how are symptoms.
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