The growing world production of human crap goes hand in hand with global population growth. So does the growing pile of Steemshit posts which relates to the rapid growth of the Steemit community. But to be serious, Steemit is actually not that much different than our World's Contemporary society. I hope I've got your attention because today, I want to make a clear point. I’m a student of International Development Studies and Economics and Policy and in the past few weeks I’ve been thinking in which ways my knowledge could contribute to the Steemit Community. Steemit has many characteristics of our world’s social, political and economic system. Whether this is something to worry about is up to you to decide. We’re now still in a situation where we can shape and influence the future of Steemit!
1. Financial Inequality
Inequality on Steemit is an increasingly discussed topic. Many people believe there's a strong inequality as the financial power is posessed by a relatively small amount of users. Income inequality is also one of today's global issues. In october 2015, the global Lorenz Curve exceeded 50%. This means that 1% of the world population now generates more than half of the world population's wealth (see figure 1). A report by Oxfam report even states that the 62 richest billionaires own more than the poorer half of our world population.
Figure 1: Lorenz curve, the black curve shows the cumulative relationship between the % of the world income generated by the % of worldwide households. The straight line indicates optimal equity.
2. Money generates money
Related to the inequality I just discussed, is that Steemit is based on a system where money generates more money. We know that money enables you to buy Steem power and Steem power helps to generate more money. Like in many other economic systems, the richer Steemers are able to make money more rapidly than the poorer Steemers. This corresponds with the Trickle-Down Theory which is clearly explained by figure 2.
Figure 2: the Trickle-Down effect
Many governments in our Contemporary World have countered this problem by applying "the Ability-to-Pay Principle". This principle shifts a relative part of the income from the rich to the poor. In this case it will become more difficult for a rich man to earn his usual 5000$,- than for a poorer man to earn his usual 5$,-.
3. Money is power - Power Inequality
Like in most societies in past centuries, we apply the concept: power is money and money is power. That's exactly what happens on Steemit. Money gives you Steem Power which provides you with a lot of influence on which information and topics become trending and which will not. A small amount of users have a lot of influence on content in the Steemit community.
"Money is power, and rare are the heads that can withstand the possession of great power." (Benjamin Disreali)
Something less alike the Western society, but still an important aspect in many places in Asia and Africa, is how reputation is related to power. For example, China is still based on a system with four social classes and North-Korea is based on 54 social classes dependent on the level of loyalty to the government. The higher your class, the more priorities you receive. And for Steemit, well, we already have a reputation score displayed behind our user names. Now everyone knows whether they should listen to you or not!
Figure 3: power relationships, a small amount of people make decisions for nations
4. Social Convergence and Globalization
Asian products in Western supermarkets, interracial marriages and increasing flows of worldwide tourism. Our world is globalizing and converging! The distance between A and B decreases now that airplanes, cars and other transport enable us to travel faster.
More people from all around the world are joining the Steemit community. This increasing connectedness and globalization is valuable and gives us access to enrich ourselves with inspirational and educational information from all over the world. Shouldn't we all contribute to Steemit by providing the community of our enriching knowledge?
5. "The Shit Problem"
With 7 billion people worldwide, we suffer a serious poop problem! Today's society produces about 800 million kg of shit. 200 million tons of human waste goes untreated every year and forms a threat to the our earth's system. And so is the growing pile of Steemshit posts a threat that causes high-quality posts to be shitten on and as a result they're left unnoticed. Shouldn't we avoid crap on Steemit?
Steemit is constantly in a transition. The topics, the community and its users. Now is the time to face our problems because it will be getting more and more difficult to shape this growing community!
Will we become a worse or better reflection of today's World Society? It's up to you!
ALSO READ!: The Growing Pile of Stinky Steemshit: How to not contribute to that! [STEEMSHIT EXCLUSIVE] click here