I can still recollect the day and vividly recall the memories of the event on 20th March 2020, i.e. the birth of Hive in the spirit of its basic and fundamental structure, i.e decentralization.
Today we are celebrating the third birthday of Hive in 2023 and many more years to celebrate in the future. Whenever we celebrate such an event we must also recall the imperatives of the birth of Hive. And with that, we need to understand the unbroken continuity and desired changes in Hive.
Let's define Hive in 2023
Hive can be best defined as a group of social groups that insets all human-made environments, encompassing both material and non-material benefits, and the product of this social interaction and engagement produces a decentralized social life that is transmitted from one generation to the other.
In other words, it is the embodiment of what we do, how we do, how we talk, how we express ourselves, how we earn, how we accommodate diverse views, and how we perpetuate and foster a sense of community out of such engagement, how do we reach consensus, etc, and in doing so how do we resolutely and immutably keep adding blocks which are the signatures of our social engagement.
Unbroken Continuity
Building a community is a long-drawn process particularly when it is being developed in a decentralized way. Even though it takes time it produces a firm base, the decentralized base upon which the sophisticated features and use-case of interaction can be built.
Changes can be made in the superstructure whereas the sub-structure or the base always remains intact as it becomes the part of basic structure, that unbroken continuity sustains the entire ecosystem now, tomorrow, in the future, and forever.
Hive in itself is the demonstration of decentralization in the history of crypto. At a time when it was posited with the challenge of whether a community can be bought with wealth, Hive took birth to demonstrate and re-assert itself that a community can not be bought by any amount of wealth. The threads of the unbroken continuity of Hive will always be traced back to the imperatives of the birth of Hive.
In the history of crypto, many communities have popped up, and some of them have been perished and/or taken over by others. But the enduring character of Hive makes it stand out and demonstrates the spirit of decentralization.
Desired Changes
Just like the digital world and social media landscape are all set to transit from web 2.0 to web 3.0, the landscape of a community or an ecosystem is also defined by desired changes, but only in superstructure not in its basic structure.
Desired changes mean discarding the old ones which have become obsolete and adapting to the new paradigm of the modern age. In a rational way, the community agrees on such a change. Rediscovery within the community is always a desired change of the community and a community does not hesitate to bring a change when it is based on reason.
From 2020 through to 2023, if we underline the visible changes/upgradation in the different aspects of Hive, then certainly we can list: HBD saving now offering 20% APR, microblogging niche(Leothreads) becoming the driving engine of engagement, reward curve, vibrant Layer 2 economies, etc. and many more.
20th Mar 2023
Today, i.e. 20th March marks the 3rd birth anniversary of Hive, and responding to the call from Dan's to power up on this day, today I powered up 10 HIVE to commemorate this day. It's a small amount, but considering my current socio-economic condition this is what I can afford.
Conclusion
If decentralization is a precious possession of institutional values/community, then Hive is a living expression of the "concept of community". In time to come, it will become generational soft memory of community-- Hive, a legacy community that complements both the material and social needs of people. Long live Hive.