Comfort forgone: Sharing suffering in a gift economy
When you see someone with better clothes, nicer car, larger house, or bigger Steem wallet than yourself, do you feel that you deserve the same? Do you think they have earned it or, is there the feeling that somehow they are privileged?
Does it ever cross your mind what sacrifices they have made to get there?
Everyone in this life has their own experience and makes judgements of others based upon them. We look at each other through our imperfect filters and only focus on what we consider at the time as important.
From those we see better off than ourselves, we put our hands out in expectation and those we feel should be better off, we blame for their position. We all do this, no matter whether you believe it to be true or not.
We do not consider what has been forgone by those 'above' just as we do not consider what suffering is incurred by those we consider 'below'. In both cases, discomfort is incurred, sometimes by others but, often self-inflicted, self-imposed oppression.
It is an interesting concept when applied to Steem as people tend to feel that they are entitled to certain reward or return by those with more yet, do not consider how those with more got there. There is also the general feeling that to have more, takes a level of scam or circlejerk. Rarely do they consider what it has taken to continually invest.
I have a modest vote and use some of it to selfvote and some to the community. The reason I can provide the level to the community I can now is because of a continual process of immediate discomfort for future gain. I have powered up.
It is easy to judge based on my selfvote for those that don't do it yet, last week I was able to spread more than 100 SBD to people on comments alone and at least twice that on posts. I find that incredible and I am glad that my work and discomfort over the last year and a half allows for it. I feel privileged to be able to give back, even though I am yet to benefit directly myself.
One day the direct benefits may come but, it is a risk as it is an investment into a future that may never arrive. I hope that if that future does eventuate though, I can benefit and, provide more for others too. The only way I can support more financially though is to keep growing my own account.
This means to be selfish to be more giving. Enlightened self-interest so to speak. However, the amount of people thinking similarly is decreasing which means, less and less support for those doing the giving which means, less growth of the people who are willing to give the most going forward. This is about all people similar here, those that are not just wanting to support a community of giving but, are doing their best to actually give.
I have talked about a 50/50 split on self/community growth however, that seems only likely from a narrow percentage of the community. This is a growing community that we are all part of yet, the way we each invest ourselves is up to us.
Imagine starting a business from the ground up with a partner that took their share of the company yet, didn't put in their share of the work nor the investment to keep the business growing, to develop a strong foundation. How long can the business survive? Most likely, until the partner doing the work quits. It might be harder to see here due the large numbers of partners but, the same idea holds true.
Some people see the churn rate of good authors high and although that is somewhat of a problem, I don't see it as significant as those who stay, starting to shift their behaviours from community orientated to, self-interested. But, I understand them too as they watch everyone either growing at 3-4 times the rate through non-community behaviour or, people using it like a teller to extract all they can.
Watching what one works toward get dismantled or taken advantage of in front of ones eyes is difficult at the best of times. Watching your potential ability to do more for more people in the future get visibly lessened is even harder. At least for me, it is suffering on top of discomfort.
I could of course, not care about these things and instead reduce my support, pad my close friends, selfvote 10 times a day or delegate to a bidbot for close to the same as self-voting. But, I take this opportunity seriously enough that I see that for there to be a large number of people supported, a large enough number of people need to suffer enough now. And, it can't just be the people who have invested in, people are going to to need to invest themselves in too. At all levels.
The smallest need to invest into the platform and power something up so one day they can carry some of the burden instead of only being extractors. And, the largest need to forgo short term growth rate for long-term sustainability and gains.
Essentially, we need to fill the middle class here with community thinkers from both sides and the tiniest human accounts need to grow also. The largest will always be growing here as that is what their stake allows but, they do not need to grow at the same rate as the smallest accounts but, the 100 percent delegators and selfvoters are doing that.
They are growing themselves like startups whilst taking the resources available for the real startups. It is unheard of in the business world and is unsustainable as the massive amount of resources they consume suck the air that thousands of others need to survive. This leads to massive wealth inequalities, much like the tortured real world where those with the money make more by crushing those without. It is not an ecosystem of health, it is a system that we can see is collapsing all around us as we speak.
No new platform changes this, no code will ever be effective as it is always gameable in some way and the maximizers will find every opportunity to extract all they can for themselves. Yes, incentives can be shifted to better support community action and discourage that which is harmful but, at the end of the day, it is individual human philosophy that needs to shift.
It is not human nature to be greedy, it is human nature to cooperate for growth. It is the maximizing of the self over the community that is unnatural as it is this that limits future opportunity. Trained to be consumers to support a debt cycle, what more can one expect?
I dunno, maybe I am too naive and idealistic and people will look back and laugh at the person they gamed for their own gain. I wonder if that feeling will fill them with pride at their actions, to knowingly benefit at another's expense and to hamstring those trying to do good for the good of many more.
This is not a charity, this is not a hands out economy, it is one that takes work and although it is nice to have a passive income from an investment, that income should be going to support action that leads to increased growth of the community that supports it. Passive doesn't mean blind.
Oh well, I will continue on posting as I do, adjusting when needed and supporting where I can. At what point does the where I can support become the if I can support? It is a place filled with complexities but, greed is not going to lead to improvement. And that is greed at all levels and not just about money.
Why should some live in discomfort and downside while others enjoy only upside? If we are expected to share the fruits of labour, shouldn't the suffering of the labour itself be shared too? This is a sharing economy after all.... many only want to receive the gifts.
Taraz
[ A Steemit original ]
People have different motives in joining Steemit. Some are helpful, some gives back to community,some are selfish and wants to stay on top,some are trying their best to make it and others are just so greedy that you want to shutdown their account because they pollute steemit with their scam,plagiarism and posting porno pictures. Well,not much censorship since its decentralized. On the other hand, i appreciate you giving votes to sensible comments. Sometimes your vote weighs more than when I post an article. And I appreciate it. I am not a good writer but I am trying and posting pictures of my own when I get the chance. I 'd be lucky if I can get a 0.20 votes and up.
The porn is going to be here in one way or another but, at least make it their own. Pictures grabbed from the net and reposted is plagiarism that should be flagged.
It is not just gratitude, it is also payment for services rendered. Commenting and engaging is the oil that should be making this place turn yet, many people don't reward it.
The truth is, sometimes I look at your posts and I muse, what wisdom, unfortunately I hate to say, but the idealism of this community has started to change, it was different when I joined but I guess too much cook spoils the broth, people seems not to really think about the welfare of the community at all, sometimes I see a lot of votes being sold and I imagined why so much greed?
Self vote is not bad, what is bad is not thinking of sharing them with other people, I do hope the community doesn't collapse because of rampanging greed.
As people have said before, a scarcity mindset. This affects people no matter how much they do or don't have.
Well it's a community that strives on give and take, replenishment after a rough scorch, I do hope this doesn't become a nemesis
It is very interesting how real life situations can be attributed to life on steemit, the business will definitely collapse out of frustration, or the partner leaves out of frustration, either of the two outcome is almost inevitable
As you have mentioned in the later part, investment in is almost as proportional as investment in self, because if we look at it critically, relating this to steemit, where out of investment of oneself, knowledge is acquired, then this knowledge is shared through the platform, serving its purpose of informing, educating and discussing quality, hence attracting rewards to the self, which is in turn used to invest in the platform. the need for investment in self and the platform cannot be overemphasized.
The problem is that a lot of people operate on "To whom much is given much is expected" principle instead of '' To whom whatever has been given, equally more work is expected" after all we were all given a particular amount of delegated sum.
We are all born equal enough to put in some work for another.
Not completely true but in sentiment. Those that came in very early were able to build massive amounts very fast. Some of the early posts were getting 30,000 dollars on them for makeup tutorials. Now though, we can all invest into others at least a little.
Thanks for not being a greedy bastard and teaching well man.
Yes, in view of building a community
This is debatable. We are selfish in nature. We don't do anything without it being of some benefit to ourselves, even if that benefit is just to feel good about ourselves because we were nice. Our situations dictate how our benefits come to us. If we depend on the community, then we will maximise the community above ourselves or risk being ousted and on our own. However, if we are not dependant upon the community, but can gain something from it without having to make an input, then many people would happily take that opportunity and when it's no longer available then they have gained without a loss.
We only need to cooperate for growth, if we don't already have the means to grow on our own. Since communities have pretty much been lost we have turned into a world of everyone for themselves. It seems we now see more of the worst of human nature in this modern, disconnected world.
I was going to write a post Selflessness and other lies, maybe later. Selfish yes, greedy no. It is in our own best interest to cooperate, especially here, and especially now. in the foundational stages.
I don't see this as nature as much as engineering and programming. we have essentially forced our nature into submission through disconnection from a community. As social animals, disconnection fro community is unnatural.
I would posit that it is how our nature reacts to not being in our natural setting. When we work together we work from a stand point that we know we will have each others backs. When you don't have that support you're probably more inclined to hoard what you have in case of bad times and grab as much as you can, when you can, to add to the stockpile. If you think of someone who is fending for themselves it makes sense. What we currently have is instead of being physically alone, we are surrounded by people we don't know or trust. On here they are faceless too. I wonder if the greedy ones even acknowledge other people beyond their grab for riches.
Perhaps this is correct but again, the core is still an engineered environment issue that hacks our hardwiring. It is like advertising useless products in a compelling way.
I would assume ignorance or, justification allows them to do it.
We live in the land of entitlement where everything one ever wants will fall from the sky just by holding out a hand and in which everything is only a credit card or well-placed whine away and where people are rewarded for reaching the dizzy heights of mediocrity.
Just play the victim and you’ll get some free shit is the motto of modern society. Hard work doesn’t enter the equation.
Bring back hard work, responsibility, ownership and reward for input.
It is funny, some who have done just that have been granted delegations.
Gone are the days of meritocracy and accomplishment. These are the days of appearance and shirking.
I see a lot of accounts on here who got some steem power and all they do is full power upvote all their own comments. It's discouraging. I don't have a big vote but I give it to small accounts who write about niche subjects I want to see grow here. It's a bummer to see people who only care about themselves and don't care about improving the platform..
Yeah, it is depressing to watch month after month yet, nothing seems to shift them or disincentivize them.
Well, while I agree with a lot of the things you say here, I think you're seeing things, according to your own life and actions. It's only natural, I know. But the question that you ask in the beginning of this -
Is very subjective. Because thinking of you, of course I'd say 'no', I mean I know you've sacrificed a lot and that you work a lot for the community and I do believe you deserve what you have.
But.
But this isn't applicable to all people with a high status, great car, big wallet whatever. Some have worked for it and sacrificed a lot and deserve to be where they are, while others not. Some got there through pure luck, and for some, it is a circle jerk.
You can't judge everyone by this same standard, because everyone has different circumstances...
The question is applicable to all as it only asks, does it cross your mind, but doesn't work under the assumption that all have sacrificed, or any at all. Most have sacrificed something although at the time, they may not have realised what they have given up. It may be their future happiness and self-worth.
Sharing suffering in a gift economy: if you're feeling bad, slap the guy sitting next to you and when they are reeling from the shock tell them that you gave them the gift of suffering - in a sharing economy. :D
It is a parents job to slap their kids with disappointment. Perhaps people didn't have parents who cared enough about them to teach them life's important lessons hence, all of the entitlement.
That's a good point. But is it so that when a society becomes wealthier and life becomes easier there will be fewer disappointments and a general sense of entitlement will follow?
Yeah, I think so. I think Finland is a pretty good example of this considering the hardships faced a couple generations ago were pretty much gone by the 90s. Even in the last 15 years I have noticed a massive shift from a savings culture to one of instant gratification and debt building. People feel they are entitled to all of the good things in life, even if they must be bought before being earned.
Greed indeed is a nasty bastard as we have established. I've self taught not to envy, but to apply if I want.
What is the point in wasting time on crying about what someone else has when I could be applying myself and that time into effort in order to acquire. As for the steemit community, I'm growing slowly while enjoying what I'm doing and greatly appreciate everything I'm given, yes it would be nice to get a little more and or a little more often, but that would take away from someone else wanting the same and if we get what we want all the time we tend to become greedy and self serving.
Not who I want to be and I agree with you on building the community I'm involved with so we can hopefully all smile together. Talking of which, I've started putting up some simple posts so feel free to check them out please, criticism welcome
Are they prepared to put the time and effort in or are they just looking for a quick buck. Very few are thinking like a few of us and it's sad. if they joined the community and grew there are spin offs helping others grow. You are very generous in your time and the votes you dish out. You don't have to but you are growing with everyone around you. There are some here who might think you are a fool for what you are doing but others are looking at them and thinking the same about them. Your time will come where all the hard work and time invested will pay off.