Every Man For Himself
For hundreds of years, we somehow retained the illusion that we are working inside a system that encourages some form of collaboration and a healthy interest in society’s welfare. We held the belief that those who created value would be rewarded by profits and that, conversely, those who created profits were undoubtedly creating value.
In 2008, we had an initial awakening, as slowly it was revealed to us how the entire system - from large investment banks focusing on speculative high risk activities, to the government that ultimately bailed them out - had been assembled around the idea of self optimization. This is also known as ‘doing what’s best for me and screw anyone else.’ We saw some seriously bad behavior being rewarded, and understood, finally, that the current system truly encourages the creation of profits without value. Moreover, as meetings and conversations from inside the higher floors of investment banks were leaked, we clearly saw that things had moved well beyond expressing individual ambition to deliberately doing harm as a way of seeking personal advancement.
With this understanding, came the realization that change would not happen on its own. Someone was going to have to make a move in a new direction.
John Nash proposed that success of the individual is utterly intertwined with that of the community. He rejected the ‘every man for himself’ paradigm and encouraged the adoption of one involving teamwork and joint strategy.
Today, over a decade after the 2008 crisis, we see that Nash’s vision is slowly materializing, as more individuals and communities seek a mechanism or infrastructure that can support collaborative projects.
And yet, we are not yet there, particularly in regards to blockchain and digital coin offerings, which have clearly not lived up to their promise. Today, according to BTC Manager, 87% of all Bitcoin ever mined is owned by .05% of total wallets - hardly the utopian image of a new financial system that would replace rampant speculation and corruption with collaboration and fairness.
So is it a case of ‘meet the new economy, same as the old economy?’ Is cryptocurrency on its way to becoming a get-rich-fast game played by the few, while upholding none of the values we had hoped to achieve?
We say no.
Full blog-post and transcript: https://spacemesh.io/blog/adam-smith-was-wrong/