RE: If Steem were a country, it would be the most unequal society in the world
I think you bring up the fundamental issue with decentralization and the aspect that everyone is trying to figure out. How do you completely decentralize something that will in part bring itself back to a centralized circuit. Yes this is decentralized but runs into issues with speed at the cost of keeping this on a blockchain. When someone has the ability to own a large portion of the maket the decentralization becomes skewed in their favor giving them a proportionate more say than their counterparts whether what they're saying is right or wrong. The problem with this is that eventually those with the most say get the most weight and thus create the order that continues in a decentralized network. Just look at miners. If you own all the miners you begin to have final say. It's no surprise that those who started on steem are making a lot more money and have a powerful influence in this. Still love you Steem kiss kiss
Exactly! The freedom of a decentralized economic system lends itself to oligarchy as there is no higher authority to break up concentrations of wealth and power.
I suppose here though there is the company and development team who can simply change the system's rules so it's not set in stone. . . but then again it's not truly decentralized.
That's where governance protocols come in to "elect" change. The only problem I have with Steem is that other teams are likely eyeing what is happening on Steem and considering how to make an altogether different platform.
I suppose that's what the "witnesses" are for? I still have no idea how that all works. Pretty damn new.