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What makes something real and true?
Is this a question for philosopers alone? Of course not .. everyone who thinks about it for a moment will reach the correct conclusion - some 'thing' is said to be real when a large number of people, all observers or users of said thing, say it is so. Something is said to be "objectively true", when, if you separated yourself from your self, and your current wants, wishes, fears, beliefs and biases, if that 'other self' agrees that something is true, and again, if many others in a similar state of clarity agree, something can be described as objectively true.
What does this have to do with STEEM?
Like fiat currency itself, the US Dollar for example, we have to ask ourselves what gives it value? Why is a dollar 'worth' a dollar? Well, at one time of course it was worth what it was because its existence was tied to a corresponding amount of gold, being held in reserve. Today this is no longer the case, so the dollar, as with all other currencies, are "worth" what they are because the people that use these currencies reach agreement on what that measure is .. they collectively "believe" it to be true, because all others believe the same thing - this makes it real and true.
But to make it even more so, it must be put to meaningful use, by the largest number of people possible - this serves as constant validation of the thing's worth and "realness" -
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Again, what does this have to do with STEEM!?
In the crypto-currency space there is a similar dynamic, however the number of participants are far fewer. The largest proportion of crypto-currency users and "enthusiasts" have experience with the most well-known crypto-currency, Bitcoin - everyone in the space believes Bitcoin to have the value it does, because they do .. and .. because they need to. Bitcoin is the first, largest, and most widely used and usable of the crypto-currencies. It can be used to purchase items and services, in the real world as well as the virtual - it can be exchanged for fiat currency as well, directly, which only a few of the great many crypto-currencies can.
In fact, Bitcoin is what is used to measure the value of these myriad other "coins", for the simple reason that you can 'bank' on Bitcoin .. exchange any coin, "Litecoin" for example, for Bitcoin, and then sell that Bitcoin for cold hard cash, deposited to your bank account. This is great for those already involved with Blockchains and crypto-currency - it serves as a backbone so we all buy, sell and hold Bitcoin.
Ok, you have 5 seconds to get to the point!
Something is seen to be real when you and others perceive it to be so; something is said to have value when you and others believe it to be so, but nothing is more real 'and' valuable than when you and others make 'use' of it. Bitcoin could exist, but if it were not 'used' it's existence and value would be meaningless. One admirable attempt at estimating the number of Bitcoin users today was found on Reddit .. the logic seems fairly sound.
Taking these data points into mind I think its a good estimate to put the total number of current bitcoin users between 3 million and 5.4 million worldwide with us likely being closer to the 4 million user area.
How long did it take Bitcoin to reach this number, if it is indeed anywhere near accurate? __ 7 YEARS!__ How long has STEEMIT taken to reach "approximately" 100 000 users? Less than 7 months!
Why? Because there is something very real, very useful about it, that is instantly understandable, and immediately beneficial. The more people that use it, the more real and valuable it becomes. Given the nature of the thing, and the rate of adoption (the potential rate of adoption), STEEM is set to surpass Bitcoin, within a few short years. There is nothing more human than sharing ideas, sharing ones art, sharing themselves with others .. creating an economic engine at the heart of this activity fuels itself, and grows more robust with every human contribution that is added to the STEEM Blockchain.
This folks is an engine that will only become faster and more powerful, and there is no reason to think that it will stop, because we what we are doing here we would be doing elsewhere, regardless, and it is something that BILLIONS of people are doing every day! They will continue to come at an increasing rate, because they will tell their friends and family how real and valuable it is, something they 'experienced' themselves, immediately upon entering.
Sorry, but I don't agree with you. First there is not possible comparison between steem and Bitcoin.
Bitcoin came to solve a lot of problems related with online transactions and it's value has been gained with real effort and big investment by their holders. And that is not the case for steem.
A crypto currency in order to be feasible and truthful should at least have the following features:
⚫ Must be totally decentralised and supported by a great anonymous community in order to be secure and transparent. Bitcoin have hundred of thousands miner around the world supporting the network. To make an attack is almost impossible or extremely costly. Steem have a bunch of witnesses that you must trust they will never collude 😨. Do you imagine if steem worth hundred of dollars how easy is to generate false data in the steem blockchain?
⚫ In the crypto currency world privacy is the uppermost feature. This is one of the reason because Bitcoin is worth its value. Steem have zero privacy and to top the community promote the verification of account with real names.
⚫ The crypto currency must have a niche to serve. In the case of Bitcoin is easy to spot: transfer value from A to B securely, fast and privately. In the case of Steem it seems to be give value to the content creators, and this is a genial idea. The reality is content creators are competing with boobs, dicks, and friends of the wealthier holders, to win few pennies. So is not serving it's purpose...
Steemit members are the only people who believe blindly in the steem. As it must be...
Value is gained with a lot of work and in the case of Steemit supporting the real good content creators. Too high percentage of rewards go to crappy content without any kind of benefits to the community. That is OK when your income comes from publicity, but that is not the case in Steemit.
The reputation system is a joke, a new account can reach the top with the vote of some of the richest holders, as well as for the selection of witnesses. Is so obvious manipulating everything that discourages even the most fervent believers in Steemit.
All this situation around Steemit impact the prices of the Steem, and the value tends to its real value of zero in the real world, where the steemers believers have no influence.
In conclusion, STEEM is the Most "Real" Crypto-Currency for Steemit believers. For the vast majority of the world connoisseurs of crypto currency the steem has not much value as is reflected by its price.
We are going to become simply in " bag holders" if 99% of the Steemit community continue having only 1% of the power to influence the future of this great idea, bad implemented and worst executed.
I agree that having that much power in the hands of so few, is never a good thing, but if I am not mistaken, it is part of the design that this dreadful imbalance is to become less of a factor over time. What we hope for is that the currently powerful use that power in a beneficial way, and I know that not all are. Instead of damning the design, which is imperfect of course but evolving, we should work on changing the behavior of the powerful, so more do the right thing.
And by "the right thing" I mean upvoting this post .. and as many as possible, all day everyday.
This is a great post and happy to upvote. Now following and looking forward to reading more of your stuff. Catch us also on Twitter Twitter✔. Cheers. Stephen
I enjoy the enthusiasm, but keep in mind it's not 100k users. Many of those are just accounts created by bots. The number of active users is much, much lower. You can see these numbers at https://steemd.com/distribution
Thanks luke .. I know, that's why I made sure to include "approximately" ;-)
cheers
If we were even close to approximately 100k active users, that would be fantastic. Heheh. I think we'll get there eventually, though. I see no reason for this project to fail just yet.
Well...active users don't even approximate anywhere close to 100K, to be fair.
Pointing this out helps us how?
Appx 10-12,000 is what I recall, more like 10K I think. Depends on if active means Posting, just voting, and whether you apply the criterion to daily, this week, or this month to count as "active". I've seen nothing to say over 20,000 tho. Here's @furion from 2 months ago, where 10% was the active v registered percentage https://steemit.com/steemit/@furion/how-many-users-were-active-last-week
umm bs :)
Anyway, with STEEMIANS like these, who needs enemies?
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