This is actually quite a tough one.
Trivial - I thought that when I first joined steemit that people were all honest because of it being a blockchain and that they would not lie, especially high REP people....I was seriously mistaken on that note, and that no matter the Reputation of someone, their guarantee is not worth much at all if they do not care about their online reputation.
That we would have a Moon base by now. That I would have been able to retire on the moon. Not gonna happen before I die, and likely at 30 years away.
So let's see what I learned, never trust a liar, so how do you know if someone is a liar? I guess you don't, but terms like "the person that needs the emergency loan wants to remain anonymous."...walk away, they are lying to you. In the 60's you might have been able to trust the government, today, yesterday, and any day after president Nixon, nope, can't trust the government to tackle real life changing goals or projects anymore. If you want something really big done, you need "Real Men and Women" to do it.
I think that with respect to your first one, that people do care about their reputation, but some people make a calculation about how much they can get away with without material retribution. For instance, if a downvote from you would likely damage the rep score, then they might be more 'honourable', but if they reckon that they can walk in you without suffering too much in return, well then this is the system that we have...
Moon base, I'm still hoping for that...
Thanks for entering my SBI giveaway. The winners and a new question "What are your reading?" are here:
https://steemit.com/steembasicincome/@bengy/steem-basic-income-giveaway-what-are-you-reading