Sunday morning meanderings...Driver, mechanic, or insecure elitist...?
I've known only one 'professional' race car driver -in' formula ford'.
(not including @doomsdaychassis of course)
Well, I did know him, back in the day. But that's not the point.
I raced against him once, on a race track, but that isn't really true.
....I raced as fast as I could, and he lapped me continuously. I'm no slouch when it comes to driving, but my Ayrton Senna fantasies , were smashed to pieces forever, that day...
Ok, memory lane stories over.
I'm using this to highlight something.
I came to steem to write content, and I had no great interest in the system of steem, not beyond working out how I could make money from writing my content.
And today, this is still largely the case.
Oh yeah, the racing driver....
He wouldn't know wingnut from wanton.
He didn't care about the 'hows' of the machines he drove.
He cared about explaining to the mechanics what he wanted from the car set up, so as to drive as he wanted it to drive.
The mechanics knew about everything about cars, except how to drive at suicidal speeds.
The system of collaboration, without a knowledge of everything, worked for them. They had no need to understand each others role in the ecosystem, just to understand their own.
And so to steem....
My interest as far as the steem ecosystem goes, technologically speaking, is pretty limited.(like, nearly nonexistent)
Is it because I lack the intelligence to actually understand it?....Possibly, but I doubt it.
So, after 18 months or so of being here, why is my lack of knowledge , still so... so..... glaringly limited?
(taking out the 'dumb as a bag of rock's' possibility for one moment, there has to be another reason then, surely?)
There is.
I want to race, and not be mechanic. I want to write about anything except tech and crypto.
Just like fiat money in the real world, crypto currency, well it bores me to be honest. I understand the concept of it, and that's enough, for me.
Great Minds Discuss Ideas; Average Minds Discuss Events....
While I'm a long, long way from ever being a great mind, I do fall into the ' ideas' part of this...
Understanding the mechanics of crypto are events not concepts, or ideas. (They were 15 years ago, but not now).
The crypto verse is one of mechanics. Of events.
And all power to the people who love this stuff...It's just not my gig, is all.
I just want to race with ideas, and leave the mechanics to others, others who's interest does lie there.
My point about my race driver friend?
It was a team.
Separate roles, and also working together.
The mechanics didn't see the driver as superior or inferior, and vice versa.
Neither party bashed the other over the head, with criticisms of 'not understand racing', or 'not understanding how suspension works'...
It was accepted that they played different roles and there was no hierarchy involved, other than the hierarchy of competence .
The competent race driver, and the competent mechanics.
The meritocracy in action.
And yes, back to steem....
Why do the people who have studied the steem ecosystem, that know it inside out, adopt a superior attitude when it comes to discussing it?
To automatically discount input, with 'appeal to authority' as an argument in itself.
A form of dominance hierarchy? (inefficient structures, and doomed to failure, going off history)
I race on a track called steemit.
I don't care about the track called 'Dapps', or the track called 'innovation', no not really. Whether I 'should' or 'should not', is no ones business but my own.
I want to race.
I might go watch another race now and again, and pick up some information along the way, but my racing is firmly fixed in the steemit venue.
So when I say the car I'm racing isn't performing as I would like it to, I don't expect the mechanics to shout back at me
"you know fuck all about how the car works, why should we take any notice of you?"
Meritocracies don't work like that, and cooperation, a collective effort- is for most of the time, the way forward.
Adopting a critical stance of people who's interest in the race is different than your own, is both authoritarian, and elitist.
Being in an elite, being the best at what you do in a specific field - is not the same as being an elitist.
Elitism is protectionism.
Elitism is insecurity.
Elitism is small.
Elitism is for the scared.
Protectionism within any given ecosystem, (as opposed to external threats) doesn't have a very good track record.
While the mechanics can get the best possible car ready for the race track- if there isn't someone to there race it - because the driver fucked off, tired of being told 'you don't understand the suspension'.... then what good comes of it..?
Take my recent entry into the steem promo competition.
In my opinion, my concept and visual ideas are superior to the other main contender. Much better. (in my opinion).
Conversely, the contender (as I see it), is far superior to myself, when it comes to production quality. His experience/skill/editing suite, are much better than my own.
I would have no problem (if desired), to collaborate using my idea of concept - visual, audio etc, (superior ), and his skills (superior, ) of production.
To make an even better end product.(imo).
Meritocracy in action, without dominant hierarchies, but hierarchies of competence.
I appreciate his superior skills in production, and there is no insecurity from my side because he is better than me in this area.....(I have no idea if he feels the same way - I'm just using this as an example from my side..).
There is no derision of his ideas. I just think mine are better, is all.
There is no berating of his concept, there is no elitist ' you don't understand...blah blah blah...
The non authoritarian understands this security in oneself.
The authoritarian occupies a different head space altogether. Fear based, and not expansive...
Funny, isn't it?
The authoritarians talk continually of 'expansive', and 'openness', 'freedom' very enthusiastically - while at the same time behave in ways that exhibit a purely protectionist mentality.
Trojan horses, anyone...?
I'll stop my Sunday morning rambling, now...I need another wake up coffee...



I can assure you as a mechanic I can make the best driver look like shit in a horrible car and I can make a mediocre driver look pretty good. There is no replacement for skill though. Both drivers in equal cars will always end with the better driver winning.
Meritocracy rules at the end of the day, and always will...
(or we all die, whichever)
He didn't care about the 'hows' of the machines he drove
exactly the way I felt about my truck, and my computers and the software.
I agree with you completely on this..