A society that pays you to talk, an examination

I can't help but write every so often about one of the subtle nuances I notice while spending my time in Steem space.

Insincere comments.

I have read it in all of the "How to Succeed on Steemit" blogs. They tell you that it is important to "get out there" and "let your presence be known." Those articles also, if they are well thought out anyway, stress the importance of having something valuable to say.

My mom always used to say, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." Being a genuine human being and having real and nice encounters with other genuine human beings is an essential part of life. I think being genuine is a type of being "nice." Of course - that saying is meant for six year olds and they might miss the point if the word genuine was substituted for the word nice. Here on steemit, on the other hand, is an entirely different story. Being genuine is important, especially in a land of robots.

Comment feeds, especially on high paid whale type posts, are full of really bad comments. I went out and found a few for you to hopefully drive my point home.

Good

Excellent..you have gud knowledge

Nice video

Good One....

Please Upvote for my post

Good information and post👍👍

and my favourite one from scrolling around for 5 minutes...... drumroll please!

hey Jerry, can I get some of that money?

(a very good segue too)

OK, I will cut to the chase. What I want to talk about is the problems that arise when we are incentivized to talk and interact. If I get rewarded every time I open my mouth, will I choose to open my mouth more? Is this post worth me typing or am I just chasing incentives? These are legitimate questions and could become even more important in years to come if platforms like Steemit become mainstream.

What happens to a society when you are rewarded for merely opening your mouth and you have the keys to reward yourself for opening your mouth? You also hold the keys to reward anyone else for opening their mouth. These are powerful keys!

Now I am as 'guilty' as the rest for enjoying a steem faucet or joining a conversation on steemit where everyone is being upvoted for being a part of the conversation, but these instances beg the question... Would we be having that conversation if there was no incentivization?

Aristotle wrote The Nicomachean Ethics nearly 3000 years ago, and in it he discusses friendship and rates them based on the quality of that friendship. There is useful friendship, pleasant friendship and true friendship.

The first, and lowest tier of friendship, is useful friendship. This is the type of friendship you have with someone who is providing something for you in return for something that you provide. It could be the relationship you have with your grocer, banker, insurance broker or employer.

Pleasant friendship would be the type of friendship where you get pleasure from their company. It could be a drinking buddy, a romantic flame or a hilarious lunchtime chum. This is not someone you can necessarily be vulnerable with, but being in their company is pleasurable.

True friendship delves into deeper realms of relationship. This is someone who is concerned for your well being, your growth, your goals, your dreams and will support you in that in and of itself with no expectations for anything in return. This is a hard level of friendship to attain, and if you are blessed enough in this lifetime to have a friend like this, congratulations. Your best friend(s) and your spouse / significant other might fall into this category.

Here we find ourselves on social media. There is much to be said and much to be done, and much reward pool to get our hands on. What is the caliber of the relationships that we are building? I know that the comments that I listed up above are not the prevailing majority and there are tons of genuine people on Steemit, it is just the fact that there is a reward for interacting, and we cannot be certain of anyones motives.

It is like the millionaire bachelor who cannot find true love because everyone knows he is a millionaire. He only finds love when he decides to sell his car, move into a humble one bedroom apartment and stash his money away from public knowledge and prying eyes.

So my question is this, and I do not have an answer: Can we build a real solid community consisting of true friendship and solid relationships on a platform that pays you to be apart of it?

I want to think that it is possible and that Steemit is actually a closer economic model to how society should look, and there is abundance that we all can take part in. But there is that uncertainty like that of the millionaire bachelor.

The purpose of this article is to spark a conversation and to make us think a little bit, I do not have the answers. I want to believe that I am writing on Steem because I have always enjoyed writing and sharing stories and the incentives just got me to walk through the door. Once through the door... I get to enjoy a robust community with all sorts of potential conversations and special interests.

Come for the rewards... Stay for the community. That was (maybe it still is) the slogan for Steemit. My hope is that the community, in general, is genuine. I look forward to your comments ;)