Suspect Incentives and the Future of Steemit?

What happens when money is placed amid the top incentives for contributing content? What happens to that content and to the community who is to consume it? In a world where everyone is selling, who is buying and what are they actually buying?

Some of these questions regarding the emergence of value, I answer here in my post on consensus-based systems https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@benahrens/on-consensus-based-systems - But others, such as where steemit is heading may be far more fundamental.

The obvious cause for creating and consuming content is to exchange something of value. But what happens to the nature of that content when the motivation for its creation shifts to adopt financially driven incentives? One answer might be that nothing happens. Another may be that the quality of content improves as people have more reason now than ever to produce something of high and enduring value. But is "endurance" of content something we value? or is it further content creation.

Another options exists. Could a monetary incentive for blogging encourage an increase in quantity of content at the expense of quality? All options are possible and actually already observable in the formation of this new platform. @jerrybanfield reveals how the top steemit author earns 10k+ per month

• He doesn't like to judge which I respect, and neither do I - but it is important to raise the question of does this type of activity improve the community or is it gaming the system at the communities expense?

Let me be very clear on what I mean by adding value to a community: Value is derived from the contribution of high quality and applicable information. In the case of blogs, that value must be inherent in the content of a post. When value of a post is mirrored by its monetary value, then incentives are aligned. But is this what we are seeing?

Are we creating a system that is optimized for the generation of high value material? I would LOVE to hear your thoughts and comments on the matter.

If you found this interesting you might also enjoy: this short post https://steemit.com/life/@benahrens/new-rich-or-new-rat-race