RE: Where is the Trust in Proof of Brain mining?
You are onto something, @novacadian!
Think of it like two extremes:
- at one extreme is the pure PoW, trustless, incorruptible bitcion
- at the other extreme is the rotten, corrupt fiat currency system with its entrenched banksters and robber barrons
Steem from that point of view is the experiment of "in between".
Less pure than pure PoW coins for sure.
But hopefully a lot less corrupt and corruptible than fiat systems (think Zimbabwe, Venezuela and the likes)
Why that (greatly) matters? It matters because people are not 100% economic animals. Money is not the be-all, end-all, nor the key to explaining the human (although it is an important part of the mix). People are about more than money, they are also about social bonds and relationships.
I contend that going forward, to a world of abundance (supported by technology), the "economy" will matter less and less while the "sociology" will matter more and more
This is why I believe steem is exploring and experimenting and searching for the "sweet spot" of "inbetween" in the right space, the space of social relationships and communities.
There is no external enforcement, no armed police in steem. If you want to get other steemians to move in a direction you need
- one (or a few) common system(s) of beliefs and values
- some common goals
- communication - talking to them to convince them that a certain action for which you plead helps toward the common goals and is consistent with the common beliefs and values.
Thanks for your thoughtful input, @sorin.cristescu!
We are in agreement that these new systems on blockchain technology can oft times fall short due to human behavior. Generally that undesired behavior comes about through greed; or profit as crapitalism puts it.
My feeling is that in the post capitalistic economy of the future tokens will find the user instead of the user seeking out tokens. A good example of this is an app that monitors your footsteps and rewards one in the process of exercising, the name of which escapes me at the moment.
It then becomes a Star Trek like scenario of how many replicator rations one has available; as opposed to putting in an extra shift to get more rations (though they seem to get traded between crewmembers). 😎
When we think of crypto as tokens more than currency this mind set may change.
Funny enough I was writing about precisely the same complex equilibrium with "greed only" at one end of the balance and "complete communism" at the other in a comment on a @jamesbrown musing over why there's no fusion reactor yet, despite the fact that it has been predicted for almost 50 years now.
The overall consensus is that the oil and gas lobby has no interest in a fusion reactor becoming a reality. That is a matter of course but the horse industry had a strong interest in the young automobile failing at the end of the XIXth century and that didn't prevent the car taking over the world.
It's clear that the greed of the oil and gas industry will fuel a fight against the successful development of a fusion reactor. So pure greed is not good.
But the key is to understand that if pure "A" (say greed) is BAD, it doesn't necessarily imply that "Not A" (say communism) is GOOD.
And I was giving the example of Europe which took the radically opposite approach of eliminating all source of greed and putting the task in the hands of civil servants. No greed whatsoever because no financial or monetary incentives involved.
Whether that is the right approach it's pretty easy to see: where's Europe's fusion reactor ?
My point here is that the order is important: we will not "think of crypto as tokens more than currency" first and then "the mind set will change". Rather, thanks to technological progress, we will avail ourselves of everything to our heart's content. We are heading toward a world of abundance. That won't abolish greed, which is, to various degrees, part of our genes. But the greed level will decrease.
And then, thanks to greed decreasing (but never going to zero), we will both change our mind set AND start looking at crypto as tokens. The "currency" will be less and less needed because there will be less need for exchanging stuff - more and more stuff will be available to everyone
A very good point about the effect the period of abundance would have on things; in a positive way in my opinion.
My feeling is that such a future may be less politically party based in governance, but instead more issue based, through direct representational voting using the transparency available on a blockchain.
I don't know if I should make anything of this but I just finished commenting an older post by @tibra and this very topic was discussed - @tibra seems to be rather pessimistic though