I'm seriously trying to wrap my head around the idea. It seems to be that the interpretation I may have had the first time I read such a concept is pretty far from the platform's consensus. I would like to however invite anyone that would stumble upon this post to share with me and effectively with everyone else, what you think @dan and his development team meant by such concept.


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The Good

In theory the idea to me is exciting and groundbreaking. Most of us on this platform believe in one way or another in merit, the simple yet powerful idea that the effort we put forth, the content we create and the relationships we make will with time give fruits of wealth. Defining wealth is subjective, but with the intent of keeping this conversation somewhat flowing I will simply use the word in place of success.

The one thing that attracted me to this platform was the idea that I had found a place that gave me the opportunity to start with the same advantages and disadvantages as everyone else. In other words, it did not seem in any way to go against my personal beliefs of merit and effort. I've never been one to argue for equality of outcome since I'm acquainted enough with history to know how communism and its branching ideas have worked against humanity's best interests over and over.

Allow me to drive the point home with the image that greeted my arrival to this platform

It becomes easy to imagine how this image along with the concept of proof of brain presents and somewhat appealing notion that anyone and I do mean anyone, regardless of cultural background and opinion can find their worth, their value on this platform.

The Bad

Aside from the many shortcomings of the user experience that the steemit website (mirrors included) still present, the users find themselves having a hard time achieving consensus on the direction and vision for the platform. I think the best analogy I can come up with is that when the blockchain was created, it was as if bucket of legos was spilled all over the floor and little to no directions was ever given to the players.

Go... build something

This lack of direction would be followed by the creation of communities, alliances and other initiatives that attempted with a limited level of success to overcome some of the inherent problems with the blockchain's code itself.

To this conversation we can add the challenge of user retention, the learning curve of cryptos, the inability for some people to use them freely in their countries and all the confusing never ending subjects that I'm sure failing to mention.

Attracting investors

Becomes a game of knowing what not to say more than a standard sales pitch, and In many situations some of the challenges are bad enough for cautious money to stay away. This is not to say that we should not try, that we should not be attempting to fix, adapt and develop for the platform or anything of that sort. My comment is made as an observation of the current reality.

To me the main problem boils down to the fact that we cannot come to a consensus of what this website should be about. I can say until I'm red in the face, that I find no value or merit in copy pasting articles, pictures or memes, but my experience is anecdotal and requires a bigger sample of the population. Are we a social media website? Are we a blogging website? Are we more like reddit? Who knows? Can we even reach to a point of a majority being in agreement?

No answers here, just questions and that without a doubt is pretty bad....

The ugly

We struggle to move forward because we can't be civil with each other. There is no rule in the book that says I can't disagree profoundly with someone without disrespecting that person. In all honestly when respect is lost, when civility has left the door, any argument we try to make is as effective as punching sand with bare hands.

This makes our trending page become the center stage for the feuds, vapid insults and distasteful images. All in the name of a vision for a greater good that none of us can agree to. Its apparent and obvious that all of us who are invested on this platform want Steem to evolve from social experiment to success story, how we get there is the road that we can't seem to agree on.

Regardless on what side you stand on the whole abuse debate, we can all clearly see that some of the tactics used to control it are not effective in the slightest. The idea that we need to abuse the system to safeguard our investment because we are protecting it, reminds me of the comical idea of "fornicating in the name of virginity".

Which takes me back to the main question this post is attempting to answer...

What is proof of Brain and is that what this blockchain is really about or did I get it wrong from the very beginning?

(signature by @bembelmaniac )

Other posts by yours truly

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