This is a two for one post on the challenges by @theycallmedan ... I'll mix them together.
Sorry for not doing the last one which is funny because it was me that told Dan to challenge people to internalize decentralization more because it was during the time Steem was having issues with a certain newcomer.
Picture i took last summer of my friend's hives
And to be honest this is more just like a free-write... I wrote it and realized it's not perfect... but it's a good try and maybe it'll get clearer and better in a couple more attempts some day.
BUILDING ON COMMON BELIEFS
When the trials of last month hit the Steem Blockchain and there were so many issues with the new owner of Steemit INC. My thought was to ask Mr Sun: "OK Justin what does decentralization mean to you? You mention it often... but let's get real... specificly what does it mean to you?"
We never asked him, we never had him put down a few points in writing... so that 1. We can determine does his worldview come even close to ours. 2. And maybe if it did take those points as references and building blocks for moving forward.
In a way we found out what it meant (or didn't mean) after a lot of lost time: We ended up seeing our views were very far apart after a month and after some pretty troublesome actions.
Next time let's just get right to the point and seeing where both parties stand and see what foundations we can build on.Then in conversations you can appeal to the authority of those principles you both have in common and you don't have to play games.
Anyway ....here is my main building block for decentralization.
TO ME: Decentralization means Diminishing Dependencies
To be clear I understand there is so much more to "decentralization" but I love the thinking about it this way. And I think it's one of the most exciting things for the audience we're trying to appeal to over at https://peakd.com/ for example.
It's an audience that is so skeptical of Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and the others. There's more than just a few people that are worried or don't even like youtube or facebook but they feel stuck because they can't take their audience with them. And so many consumers that feel manipulated by the algorithms of social media... but they can't leave.
NO DEPENDENCIES FOR YOUR AUDIENCE
This is where HIVE comes in... For the Creator and the Follower/Subscriber HIVE reduces a dependency in a central company that stands in between that relationship and says "you'll have this online connection as long as I say you can have it" ... that dependency is gone. Now the chain is there and it doesn't have an algorithm or a company that decides if that is true or not. It's completely up to the users.
You can also switch websites to another interface and those connections are still there.
The creator and the User can be on different interfaces.
LESS DEPENDENCIES FOR THE INFRASTRUCTURE
There was a lot dependencies back in the days of Steem. There was an unhealthy amount of dependency for the Steemit API ... Even today back in Steem land there is a very thin amount of capable infrastructure to run SteemPeak... we're not sure how long it will last.
Also the number of developers keeping things afloat must be razor thin.
Sure there's more room for progress in our journey and for apps like PeakD. However it's a journey and we'll keep pushing in that direction away from dependencies.
LESS DEPENDENCIES FOR DEVELOPMENT
I've been on the groups with all the developers (i'm not one myself) but there's something so entirely different these last few weeks. It feels like people are finally unshackled and free to make things happen.
Before Hive they seemed dependent on the timing and desires of Steemit INC. Now there's more activity in the development side than ever before in my experience. Some developers are going non stop because now they feel enabled but also they are excited.
Steemit INC had a roadmap and they worked on some hard problems and went slow and methodically at times and it FELT like everyone was required to go at their speed and wait for them to be ok with the next step. Steemit tried to say people could or should develop things for the backend or the condenser whenever they wanted ... but it just never happened.
With developers feeling free to do stuff I think we'll see more progress than ever before and many of them will be doing it for passion and will be getting the input and go ahead from the community at large.
MORE INDEPENDENT FUNDING MECHANISM
The Hive.Fund will help get users excited to have a great Idea and present it to hundreds/thousands of users and see which ideas make it. (Tip... most people may not make it past the idea stage) Also it's not just about ideas, it's about trust... do the users know your capabilities because you've been successful in the past?
So based on factors like ideas and proven capacities and trust we'll see lots of people bringing code and other unique ideas to Hive and have lots of progress happening from many directions all at the same time. And usually at a huge discount (developers aren't cheep if you were paying them) ... the hope is the projects are solving real issues and building things to benefit the community but also my hope is they have a plan to be self-sufficient some day.
A funding mechanism can be used to jump start many great projects and backend development and marketing. But let's just hope that projects don't become dependent on the hive.fund. That means keep progressing towards not needing them some day.
That's our goal... we are very greatful for the Hive Fund and hope we're developing features every week that benefit the user base. But we sure how we are never in a dependent role to these funds.
KEEP MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
A dependency isn't horrible in and of itself. It's when you don't progress and you stop growing to become capable of existing without the thing that is helping you.
The infrastructure of Steem and the API provided by Steemit was a great help for projects like SteemPeak and Peakmonsters, those sites may have Never started without them. But eventually we'll need to not be dependent on them and mostly we are not dependent... just happen to be capable of so much more speed and capacity presently with them.
REDUCE VULNERABILITIES
We need to make sure this place (HIVE) isn't dependent on any particular:
- group
- developer
- API
- Funding mechanism
- voter / whale
- company
- And even interface.
WE DON'T WANT TO BE THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN
We would be very uncomfortable if PeakD.com was the only interface.
Our value proposition to content creators is the can have a place they won't feel manipulated and stuck in a dependency trap. We can't sever their relationships, we won't stand in the way, we'll build tools for them and try to be the best option possible and that's the kind of healthy relationship we want to create.
In fact when we create new features we try to make it so other interfaces can use them as well. Promoted Posts, Countdown timer, Post description, Author field, Public Lists and more.
We'll throw in a few features from time to time that may only be found on PeakD.com but by in large we want our features to be decentralized... meaning not dependent in @peakd
Some business theory teaches that to be successful you must make a user dependent in you. True business theory would reject that. To us it's not about building a dependency but about making something people love so much they willingly come back every time. And if they are ever truly dependent on us and can't function without us then maybe we've done something wrong... not business wrong... but life wrong.
WHAT HIVE MEANS
Some people have the imagery of Bees all wrong. They think of some sort of science fiction view of bees and think it's all about mindless obedience with this idea that there is no free will... well not sure how much free will exists in animals to begin with... but that's besides the point.
The queen bee is not a dictator it's not a bunch of bees working for the good of one tyrannical lady bee the queen doesn't sit in meetings directing bob to head over to field A and be back before curfew... While we may anthropomorphize animals and insects too much too often. I'd challenge us to see the concept of the Hive as a place where everyone is busy doing their darndest to make the best product they can. There are very few slouchers in the hive... i'd like to think they're all proud of what they're working on and happy to be making crap happen.
THE HONEYBEE
The symbol of the state where i live (UTAH) is a Beehive... it's known as the Deseret State.
Deseret is an archaic word meaning "Honey Bee" which also meant Industry to the Utah pionoeers
Early pioneer leader "taught his followers that they should be productive and self-sufficient, a trait he had perceived in honeybees" *
Fun fact back in the 1800s this was a proposed territory of the USA it was gonna be called Deseret... spoiler alert it didn't get approved, in the end they barely got granted a state.
SELF SUFFICIENT
The word Deseret means “honeybee.” The honeybee is a common symbol of hard work, productivity, and self-reliance. In fact, honeybees are so efficient that they usually make two to three times more honey than they need to survive. They work quickly—they can fly up to 15 miles per hour!—and they work together from spring to fall to produce the 60 pounds of honey needed to sustain their colony during the winter.
Excerpt from the site of Deseret Industries a company that helps less fortunate learn how to be more self reliant.
I grew up on the concept of self-reliancy being one of the most coveted traits. So it's natural for me to want to see this in the mechanisms that I interact with. I want the chain to be self-sufficient and I want to build a product that empowers people to be self-sufficient. In fact to help make thousands (in not hundreds of thousands of people) lots of money and lots of joy. (spoiler alert... that won't happen because of reward pool money alone. We need lots more features and we can't depend on one of them alone... we need a bunch of them.)
LESS DEPENDENCIES = MORE SELF RELIANT PEOPLE
To me Hive and apps built on Hive aren't here to make life simple, stress-free and easy for everyone... it's not about providing handouts and free lunches in perpetuity. It's about giving people a place to do their best, produce their best and giving people (and companies) a place to succeed. All while taking away as many stumbling blocks and dependencies.
The idea of work hard and succeed is a beautiful one.
Stain glass in Salt Lake City Utah... a picture i took for a book I did about Temple Square.
MORE SYMBOLISM FOR HIVE
- Numerous
- Perception of danger
- Not interested in fighting but will if threatened.
- Builders
- Hard workers
- What they create is wonderful
- Beneficial to the world... directly and indirectly
Anyway that's basically a draft #1 on the concepts of Hive and Dependencies. Thanks for letting me ramble on.