Now that most people seem able to post and interact to some level 'normally', I am wondering where are the posts and interactions? My feed is clicking over but it is pretty slow, maybe it is Mondayitis. Oh, it is Saturday.
One thing that is apparent when there is some disruption is how narrowly people consume information. This is not just relevant to Steem of course but has implications in the larger world. When two sides argue they argue without recognising that not only do both sides have different perspectives, but their sources of why and how they got those perspectives can be vastly different also.
This is one of the issues with the tailored feeds of platforms like Facebook because when people say 'they get their news from' these sources they don't take into account that the view they get is aggregated and filtered for their specific tastes. They see exactly what they want to see in both the positives and negatives. This means that their loves and fears are both consumed and give the view that everyone in the world thinks the same.
This then goes onto develop their argument and makes anyone they argue with who has an opposing view seem crazy but, it is not known what they have been consuming. To them, they are rational and always on the side of good because their tailored feed confirms to them they are right.
Without really seeing where people are pulling their information from, the only way to approach a discussion well is to spend some time listening and getting to the root of concerns. This will likely lead to uncovering hints to the sources of their information anyway which then gives a better understanding again.
If we think about life as a city with shops and businesses, houses, suburbs and neighborhoods, there are various populations with a range of differing experiences that affect how they think and live their lives. Some are surrounded by struggle, others affluence and all are subject to the communities in which they live. All of the data that pours into the environment goes onto shape attitudes and perspectives that can help someone in one suburb but if applied in another will harm that same person.
If it would be possible to get a holistic view of all of the city, get all data and accurately apply the habits and traits that are beneficial depending on the environment, we could be very adaptive. In turn it would close many of the disparities between locations over time as populations start to adjust to the adaptive people within the community who will largely find ways to work together for common benefits. In time.
The internet is much like a city, as is Steem, where essentially all who use it have access to any suburb and the information each contains. However, rather than exploring the city and all it offers, people tend to spend their time in the suburbs they prefer and then ask the algorithms to feed them more of it. Slowly, a free environment is populated by almost walled informational suburbs.
What happens is that in times of crisis, we act on what we know and if we do not have the knowledge/habits to act appropriately, we end up making moves that don't sync well with circumstance. In the most recent (aren't they daily anyway) Steem drama, people reacted on what they knew which for many was gathered from the suburbs in which they live.
I find it interesting that Haejin has more followers than 
Most people live in cities and realize that there are some suburbs that they should avoid, at least at some times of the day or night if they can. However, on Steem there are some suburbs that everyone should at least spend some time and one of those is in the technical aspects of the platform. You don't need to be a master coder to understand the basics and there are plenty of layperson paragraphs strewn all over the place, I know because that is what I read.
The problem with staying informationally narrow is that all things are influencing each other and without understaning basic connections, one is at the mercy of magical events out of ones control or is forced to make assumptions about what is going on in different suburbs. Of course, no one can force anyone to consume a wide diet of information, it is the responsibility of each of us as individuals but just like a nutritional food profile, variety of source is recommended, even if it doesn't all taste good.
We have a growing city that is having more infrastructure continually developed in the hope that we can use it to grow our community and develop a population of people who can both be their best as individuals and create a strong base for others too. It is very experimental at this stage and there are many paths to take for the infrastructure but, there are many more opportunities for users to grow here and have an expanding pool of opportunity.
What I am hoping is people see this as a kind of chance to increase their informational mobility as these days, none of us are confined to the suburbs in which we grew up, even if that is the current case in the real world for many. On Steem, and through the coming community Hivemind upgrades that HF20 is in part preparation for, we will have the chance to develop all new suburbs that better suit our purposes and, participate in the way they operate and grow.
This digital city is in its foundational stage but turning it into a replica of where we already live is a waste of potential as we already know that doesn't work. What would likely be the best case scenario is that rather than fight about what we have been trained to think is right and wrong and had it confirmed via our tailored experiences, we set out to explore what is possible together.
It could be a worthwhile journey but, we have to leave where we feel comfortable and open ourselves to new. The terrain might get rough though.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]