Tribalism, Monopoly, and Competition .:. Peace Letter To Hivians
Crypto is going through hard times... We've had bear markets before, and those who "survived" them know exactly how it feels... I wouldn't say it's better or worse this time, but it was challenging in the past, too... Just for the record, I didn't hear that famous sentence: "Bitcoin is DEAD!", too many times, yet... So, we are still doing okay-ish... 😃
Speaking of HIVE, we are also "living" in turbulent times... Things are changing (not sure if it's for better or worse, but they are changing), but again, we had much more serious problems and troubles a few years ago when the situation was literally, TO BE, OR NOT TO BE... Situation on HIVE is a bit different from that on Bitcoin, for example... I know that many see this place as a "centralized" one, but if it were like that, we wouldn't be in the position as we are... So, we are decentralized, people have different opinions about the future of HIVE, and they use their stake to show it! Which is fine... That's how it should be!
Created on Canva.com, using my photo as a background
The problem is that a lot of us don't understand decentralization, since the concept is still in an experimental stage and it's not that easy to grasp... One thing is to understand it on the technical level, but it's another thing to understand it on "human level"... As usual, on HIVE, we have people who think they are worth more than some other people... That deduction is coming from the fact that some people have a bigger stake, or they have developed something in the past, or they are doing some coding at the moment...
To make it worse, in tough times, the money "issues" come into play too... Then you can hear sentences like: "I deserve it as I did that", "Your stuff sucks, mine is better", "Nobody is doing nothing, only me", etc. Not really things you would like to hear from influencers on the chain...
Of course, the next stage is picking the side, or popularly called tribalism in crypto... If you are not with us, you are with them! I have created probably dozens of posts on this topic, mentioning exactly this issue... The thing is that all our dapps live under the HIVE umbrella, and we (SHOULD) work for the same team, for the same chain, for the same token! That's our INCENTIVE (more on that topic in future posts)! We CAN think differently about the way to "make HIVE great again", but we are working for the same goal! Nobody is crazy to sit on thousands and millions of tokens and try to kill the chain! I can be wrong, you can be right, but we should talk about it, and see if those ways are opposite ways, or just a different direction... I wouldn't say that we just need to talk, but rather to LISTEN to each other a bit more...
Speaking of tribalism, I have to touch on the topic of competition... I was running a business in the past, and I was a rookie among the well-established businesses... The first thing I did was to go to every single one and to offer the way of cooperation, which would benefit everyone... While it was a good idea in my head (and I think it was a good idea in general), other "parties" didn't accept the "hand of friendship"... I learned from them what they did well and what they did wrong, and applied those practices in my business... After just a few years, all of them closed their business, and unfortunately, I also had to do the same... Turning the light off, on my way out... I NEEDED competition to survive! I needed competition to MAKE ME BETTER!
Monopoly is great, but it creates a bubble... And it's not just that... It usually creates a pushback from the community... When you have a monopoly, the INCENTIVES begin to fade away, and as they are gone, you don't push as hard as you could... Developments slow down, creative thinking stops, and work in general goes to a minimum... As, why would I work if the money comes even if I don't! This reminds me of builders that we had when my parents were building a house... They would arrange the price on an "hourly basis" and not on a finished job... So, instead of working for a week to finish something, they worked for 2 months! They didn't have incentives to finish earlier! They didn't search for a new job. Why would they? It's the same working hours here and there...
No goals, no improvements, no growth... All that kills the business in the long term...
Not everything on HIVE is a business, but everything on HIVE needs feedback, communication, and discussion... In the end, we are a social network, and we like to present ourselves as a decentralized community... Well, than ACT like that!
Thank you for your time.
--ph--
None of this is financial advice!!!
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Man, oh, man @ph1102!
Even when you talk about the bad times, it somehow always feels better reading it from you!
Good seeing ya today at @creativeworkhour!
Hehehe.. Thanks..
I suppose I'm doing these posts to remind myself about the positive sides... If I only think about it, I go negative... If I put it out in a written form, it usually sounds better and more positive... 😂
Using the medicine on myself first... but happy to hear if it helps others too! 🥂
I just curated your beautiful post through Ecency.
Thanks for your curation! 🙏
competition is always good for bussiness if you want to sell burgers start a restaurant next to Mc donald ...
Exactly! You already have clients coming into the area searching for burgers! Win-Win! 💪
Good afternoon @ph1102, you raise something interesting that I studied something, a little, during my degree, which is game theory. Although cooperation can be beneficial in a community, there are many causes that can break this cooperation. We tend to see the immediate benefits even if we ruin our future...
I'm waiting for more reflections... and the debate... where is it happening?
A very big hug. Thank you.
Yeah... That's something where we always come back... The same "curse" in which we are living at the moment... I think they call it "instant gratification"... Immediate benefits NOW, with 0 thinking about the future...
I mean, it's enough to see people taking loans for summer vacation, to not be able to have food on the table during the winter... 😞
Debate wouldn't be a bad idea... It's hard to find people ready to rationally debate, without going into conflict... 😃
Cheers! Enjoy the weekend! 🏖
Monopolies aren't great. They stifle creativity, and I think its a net bad for the consumers. I think the competition will provide a better product like you said, and give people a reason to want to keep using your services.
Monopolies are bad in general... They are good for the people/company that has it, but even that doesn't last forever...
Competition makes us better... History proved that many times... That's a fact!
True True True...
Trying to prevent writing a whole book here in the comment section:
Appreciated! 😂
Of course, agree on all your points! Cooperation among different chains wasn't on my mind when I was writing this post, but it makes a lot of sense... I think there were some initiatives in the past (Chain Culture), but they faded out... It's hard to find a good chain to cooperate with, when most don't survive bear markets...
Btw. that's our other big advantage! We survived multiple bears, with casualties, but still here! 💪
Are we in the state of chain drama again? I missed quite a few things in the past few months. Point me towards the key articles please :) Probably should be posting more again…
Hahaha... Not that much drama, just standard bear market vibes... 😃 Most of it was happening in Discord and not on the chain... Except for DHF proposals not going through and some fights around which one is worth it and which is not... 😃
Now that I think... when we have drama, it's usually about the money... so, if we have drama now, it means there is still money here... Despite such a low HIVE price... 😃
To put it simply, some people here know why they're here; others don't...
That's an interesting perspective... I would maybe add this...
... and some know why those others are here, and some don't... 😂
I get a lot of the "Hive is dead" comment and content always, or those with the "Hive is a bad name, if we continue, we're dead". I think I admit that things aren't so good and the witness actually needs to do some work, but I'm used to the doom talks from some people
I wonder if this would make more people leave Hive, let's see.