cryptoil: a familiar path to oppression?
Oil is not a modern product and has been utilised by many in many different ways over the last 4000 odd years since the Babylonians used it to for construction. However, since those days, things have changed significantly in volume and the associated rewards that it brings.
The ancients would get oil from tar pits and oil springs that were in their area but the modern methods have created an industry. One of the world's largest and most powerful to have ever existed.
In the 1800's desire for oil increased significantly and there was massive amounts of money to be made if one could secure viable land for wells and refinement. For many of the early oil barrons, they were trailblazers out in new lands trying to strike it rich.
In time however, the trailblazing cowboys settled down into a refined, structured and highly regulated industry that would fiercly protect itself from competition. Once the rich had their money, they weren't going to let go of their control easily.
Can you imagine if your great, great, great grandparents had got into the oil industry and had wells and refineries in the 1800's? What would your family's economic position be today? Would you be here at Steemit fighting for decentralized currencies and a break away from the governments that protect your industry?
My question is about us as a community: Are we any different? After all, it is called mining.
There are many new cryptocurrency millionaires and possible billionaires. They were the ones that got in on the ground floor, invested early and are now sitting prettier each day. Good for them and I too (although very late to the game, but earlier than about 7 billion other people) am trying to get my little well up and running, honing my tools and refining what goes in and comes out so that it will hopefully survive for the boom, the moon, the sun, the fun.
But, will we take the same path as money before us where once we are in a stable position, consolidation takes place, small wells join conglomerates which turn into a few powerful companies that dictate terms?
At one point, will those with massive amounts of blockchained wealth push to centralise and regulate the cryptocurrency industry to both protect them from challenge and manipulate markets for their own gain?
It is possible, isn't it?
I don't think this will happen quickly but in comparison to other types of walking world mining industries, I predict much, much faster. Gold mines, diamond mines, silver mines and many others are all highly regulated and the controlling groups are very small in comparison to the power they wield. But, they all started off as independent miners.
I am a cryptocurrency beginner and do not believe I am anywhere near qualified to speak about the future of the industry but I do see some parallels with past trailblazing industries that eventually pushed for protection from governments. Oil, cars, cigarettes, alcohol, pharmaceutical...
Over the last few months, the governments have given up their observer mantle and picked up their fight trunks. The banks are of course working hand in hand. The avoidance of these two globally colluding groups are part of the reason cryptocurrency was created and why it has attracted so many trailblazers and anti-establishment types.
It is not just the investment opportunity, it is the freedom to do what one wants with the gains. But it is a catch-22 as once the gains are significant enough, protection and security are sought and the biggest protection racket is run by the friends we have tried to avoid eye contact with as we pass them on the digital streets.
So, will we do better? Or in a hundred years from now, we will be funding wars and burying technology that threatens our coins? After all of the battles are fought for freedom, how much blood will we have on our hands and will we be any better than them?
Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]
We are all peons in a game that is way above our "pay grade" if you will. The US institutional money is coming and once it does they will yield all of the power. They have more money in 1 institutional brokerage then the entire market cap of crypto at something like 3:1 ratio. Forget all the others plus the pension money that is looking to get involved.
With that said I'm glad I'm in before them, but our gains no matter how large aren't going to allow us peons to control anything. The big boys are coming to play and they will rewrite the rules to fit into the game they want to play. This is why governments are actually looking at how to regulate the industry.
The future will still be controlled by the big boys and we will just have the opportunity to move of the ladder a couple rungs, but nothing that will put us in a position to change the world IMO. We are not the future Rockefeller's, but rather we are those who the Rockefeller's crushed or bought out.
The largest hedge fund management I think is worth something like 5 trillion. That is just one.
Yep.
Picture just the top hedge fund putting only 2% into crypto. That would add $100 billion.
To be fair those who get bought out can still make serious money.
I think it's just a matter of time. Human greed will always be an issue in any thing of value. It may not be soon like you said, but we're definitely going to see the big wigs pushing for more regulations and centralizations to protect their interest
I think it is going to be relatively soon considering that people aren't as patient nor as risk taking as they once were. once they feel secure, they want to cement it in place.
If am to put myself in their shoes, then I'll have to say you're right. Even I may be inclined to protect my interests in such a situation
The really interesting added point about blockchain "wealth" is its public evidence - for example, all of our wallets are 'on show' here on Steemit.
Could lead to interesting discussions "down at the pub"...
Yeah, likely already does in some circles ... not mine :)
Ha! You might not be party to it ;)
I think this is a very valid concern and I can see this happening as well, powerful mining pools and large mining companies already dictate large parts of bitcoin consensus (see the segwit contraversy a while back) leaving the little guy out. I can only imagine this will spread out to all cryptos. We see it on steemit with the witnesses that trade votes. We haven't come to regulation yet, but I'm sure it will come soon as well.
The amount of scam is going to drive regulation anyway but, it will be the deals cut with the big players that will shape it and I assume that many are actually blue pill-ers.
If you taste power, letting it go can be a difficult thing. Will we do any better? Only time will tell. Should we do better? Yes, we certainly should do better. Can we do better? We all have it within us to do better and it is only greed that will take that ability away.
Will we do better? It depends on how greedy we are and will be.
Welcome to Steemit
I like the name
Greed is a powerful think . And I believe Grecko said " Greed is Good"
Thank you so much. I think I love Steemit already, I really love the sense of community.
To me, Grecko is just a synonym for greed, and you are 100% right, it is indeed powerful. Most of the problems in the world are in one way or another a product of greed. Think back to the tobacco companies telling people that smoking was safe, that was motivated by greed, and that greed has killed millions of people. Or companies like Coca-Cola claiming that coke is a part of a healthy diet and lifestyle (or at least implying it) even though evidence has shown how much damage sugar does in the body. 2008, built and fueled by greed.
There is a lot of greed in the world, and it has more power than we can even imagine.
I am sorry for going all Christian on you, but the bible says "the love of money is the root of all evil", but money itself is not evil. It is a tool like any other tool you have, and as much as people say it does not matter to them, it is an essential tool if you want to survive in the modern world. Money is not evil, but people do evil things to get it, and it is the things that people do out of greed that are the most evil.
thanks for the response . I agree hole heartly .
A more correct translation is "the pursuit of money....) lol . yes it's incredible what people will do for money because it brings them power and prestige . People are gullible and believe whatever come over the bube tube or just want to hang their hat on the rich guy.
So much wealth in the world and we can't take care of our sick , elderly and poor what a shame . Technology is changing a lot of things and has over the past decade or so, so we will see where we are in years to come
Thank you for correcting me. I totally agree with you. There is enough knowledge, wealth, technology and other resources to end all of the problems in the world. The only thing missing is love and compassion.
Let me correct myself, there is enough love, just not enough of the right kind. Love is a complicated thing because there are so many different kinds of love. There is a pure, uncorrupted, selfless love, and on the other end of the spectrum is that love that comes from a dark place, that love which is the mother of greed, that completely self-serving love. Dark love will destroy us, and pure love will be our salvation. In the meantime what do we do?
The health industry is a perfect example of a system built on dark love. Do not get me wrong, if I have a heart attack the only place I would want to be when that happens is in a hospital. What I am saying though is that the people who have the most to gain are those who own the patents to the pills and potions that our doctors give us (i.e. big pharma). We could fix the entire health industry nearly over night if we could find a way to reward doctors and medical insurance companies for keeping people healthy, and to punish them by paying them nothing for each ill person until they bring that person back to good health. If we could find a way to make that happen, wouldn't that just change everything? We already have everything we need to make it happen, we just need to find a way of putting it all together, the only thing is that there is too much dark love for this to happen today.
These are all things that you have stated above that have crept in slowly over time . I have pondered about it and have come to one remedy .
We elect people who make these Laws and Regulations . We do so blindly . We do not look at what the individual can do for us but who's banner he flies . If we would only elect the right person not only for the job but the time we would be alot further along.
It reminds me of Churchill , he was the right man for the time . Grant was another . I could go on and on , but my point is that these men had flaws and many flaws . But they executed their duties perfectly for the time that they were in . We need to get back to what can you do for us instead of the political BS that we have now . But until the people pull their head out of their rear defilade things will not change . As a groupe we allowed these things to occur
If you look at the Witness's here on Steemit you will see the same thing . some of them should not be in the top 50 . They are there because people voted for them out of greed instead of what they have to offer the platform
LOL this is the longest reply I have ever made . I am glad you are here on Steemit . You can make a difference . The platform is changing , but slowly . You have picked a great one to follow :)
At the end of the day people have to be responsible for their position and duty to the the economy of the future.
I am so glad that you bring up this point that what happens when cryptos go mainstream and centralization starts to set in. People talk about Blockchain and decentralization as an end all - be all solution to the problems of the world. When in reality they are merely opportunities (at this point of time) that offer a possible solution for the future but only if we are able to stick to some semblance of economic fairness.
It is easy to say fair at this level but, if you were in the top 0.1% of holders, would you think about it the same? Technically to have that future, you should.
I am not sure what my mindset would be if I am there. I don't handle temptation very well.
Still the truth is what it is - mine's or the the situation's.
100% yes just like Winklevoss etc
Almost every technology has in one way been weaponised in one way or another. I hope that this generation of ours will be the first to change that trend for ever. Hopefully this generation will be able to let go of our oil wells when the very oil we seek begins to polute us.
I think this generation will do all they can to do as little as possible. Perhaps the next generation is our hope...
I am sad to say I agree with you. The way things are going, it does not look promising for us
We're already funding wars on here ;)
I can bet crypto will be no different from all the other booming industries of the past.
At first new wealth and new billionaires will be created. The crypto space will then consolidate around a handful of exa-rich.
Which will then enlist the institutions (financial system, governments) to shore up and protect their position.
The only consolation is that all these new industries poping up (robotics, AI+crypto, bespoke manufacturing) will usher in an era of abundance. On average, as people get richer, once they feel secure, they also start feeling more generous toward the others.
The innovations coming thick and fast these days are changing our world from one of "economy" to one of managing abundance. As an aside, no wonder economists (unlike lawyers) seem completely oblivious to this rapid transformation ... their whole field of inquiry is fast losing relevance.
We need to turn our attention from being "economical" to being social, strengthening back the social ties which the "economic globalization" movement has torn apart
They are using the wrong tools.
This requires a change from an optimization/maximization view which even here, is not happening yet.
Indeed, the horizon I have in mind is another 3 - 4 generations, to be frank ... at the very least. Humans have been selected to optimize / maximize for tens of thousands of generations. Let's collectively "bear with outselves" ;-)