Absolutely. @trevonjb had one of the clearest explanations for it in one of his videos. He likened hash rate and the computing power used by miners to mine coins like BTC and ETH to brain power on Steemit. The physical definition of power is measured by the frequency with which a certain amount of mass can be moved. I equate mass in this scenario to be the quality of your content and content curation and thus value the Steemit community places on it. Obviously the frequency is how often you curate, comment, or post. As I understand mining, in many ways, it's like a lottery with results that average out over time, but it doesn't change the core benefit of actively contributing to the process. When a whale upvotes a minow for a post you feel is no better than yours, it doesn't change the overall benefit you get in return for actively contributing value to the community over time. If the same ever happens to you, and your post outranks something you perceive as exceptional, it will still just be a product of the process.