How Steemit Can Financially Disincentivize Bad Behavior in the Real World

Steemit for Peace?

We've all seen the effects of being a bad person, here on Steemit.  If you attack, berate, or spam people, you're gonna have a bad time.  Not only will you make less money with this strategy, but with the new reputation system coming into effect, your voice will effectively be silenced for your repeated bad behavior.

Steemit has encouraged an engaging environment that has clearly favored more courteous and outgoing users.  I'm going to explain why I think the fundamentals of this platform can potentially have massive ramifications on human behavior well beyond the site itself.

We Won!

Let's imagine for a moment that we are a couple years into the future, and Steemit has become an iconic platform that practically everyone uses.  It may be a bit optimistic at this stage, but let's assume that we won, and the Steemit takeover is complete.  What are some of the things we will notice around us?

Of course, we will notice that Steemit has a lot of good users.  There certainly will be some bad eggs, but if the proper strategies are employed by the team, these types will almost certainly drift away from the site.  They just won't have any reason to participate when they can't get heard and they can't earn.  Meanwhile, the good Steemit users will obviously be invested in the platform, with their Steem Power.

Ted

Let's say that Ted is a good Steemit user.  Ted has built up his reputation over time and has a good chunk of change in Steem Power.  Ted now is invested in not only Steemit, but he is invested in keeping his reputation stellar as well.

Ted gets drunk one night.  He gets in an argument with his sober wife.  He starts a vicious physical fight with her.  He gets arrested and an acquaintance posts about the incident.  Maybe Ted isn't so good afterall?

Now, with his legal and marital troubles behind him, Ted returns to the site, only to find many people have unfollowed him.  Some have muted him.  When he posts, he has less influence, even with all of his Steem Power.  All of the time and effort he put into the platform has now turned to ash because of bad choices he made in real life.

It won't take many Teds for people to realize what exactly is at stake.  Bad people capable of acting like "normal" people on Steemit for monetary gain will need to continue this "act" in the real world or else they will simply lose.

This means people are quite literally invested in becoming good people.

Thinking of driving home after drinking too much?  Thinking of shoplifting?  Thinking of even worse things?  Steemit better not find out.  Granted, there are laws in place to dissuade people from these actions currently, yet people still do bad things all of the time.  Laws can be manipulated, cases can get thrown out, and with enough money it sometimes seems that you can get out of almost anything.  Steemit's community can't be deceived.  We will not waste our votes on known bad people.

Conclusion

Steemit is the first emergent system that can financially incentivize society-wide, good behavior, without the use of force.  It may not be enough on its own, but in my opinion, it's potentially the start of a fundamental shift of how we approach our society.

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