Since my introduction to steemit I’ve heard this word “decentralized” used left and right. The word attracted me because it sounds like a nice alternative when there is such a massive disparity between the distribution of resources, or “wealth” if you’d like to call it that.
The rise of cryptocurrency is deeply tied to this idea of “decentralization”. It’s what attracts many of it’s current enthusiasts. But this word seems to mean different things to different people. I hear many people referring to decentralized currency as if it is synonymous with decentralized power. It is most certainly not. They may be interrelated but these are not the same thing. You can create a decentralized currency and still have very centralized power.
Go check for yourself. Some of these whales are good people, in fact, almost all the ones I’ve met are very decent. I’m not going to demonize them by pointing a finger and saying that they are the problem when they are just playing the game well or happened to be in the right place at the right time . I do hope they decide to lift up others from their positions of power and I feel at Steemit, many are. But the game is still rigged, the new paradigm looks much like the old one. Decentralized currency has very little to do with decentralized power, at least right now it does.
So this is a window of opportunity, yes. But the idea of decentralization has been built on top of a culture of centralization.
The new paradigm is built upon the same kind of systems and thinking as the old one, we can do better.
We need to move from a mentality of scarcity and competition to a mentality of abundance and cooperation. That means that as you become more able to ensure your own personal security, you actively look for ways to help others do the same. It means that if you’ve got a big piece of the pie, you willingly share it with others, not for reputation, not for an upvote, just because you want to see everyone win.
I’m still quite optimistic about cryptocurrency because it showing people that currency only has value if people believe in it. I hope that when many community minded people and non-hierarchical operations are doing well thanks to this window of opportunity, the transition to crypto, this will be the next step. When a currency has too much centralization of power, we drop it and move on to another.
That doesn’t mean you should feel bad for owning some ripple or whatever other coin. Get rich from it and put those earnings into a coin you believe in, and share with others when you can.
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