RE: Hive's Dilemma: To Network State or Not to Network State?
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Network States. Very interesting concept I will need to dig into further.
Podcast link for anyone interested:
https://thenetworkstate.com/podcast
As for monetary independence, I think Hive hasn't arrived there yet. The foundation exists in the design of the technology, but as for right now, I don't know that anyone is buying food for their families or paying utility bills with HIVE or HBD. Not directly. Indirectly is the only way, by selling through exchanges for fiat. Which in so doing weakens the network in the aggregate.
Of course, this general issue is true for all cryptocurrencies.
I agree that Hive is well ahead of the curve in it's journey to independence but we still have a way to go before it's a separate, self-sustaining economy. This is necessary to satisfy a definition of monetary independence in my view, but I'm interested in hearing yours.
Full Hive economy might be impossible to achieve in an environment of multiple network and nation states cooexisting, there will always be somebody outside demanding exchanging currency to accept payment. Only Hive beiny layer 1 for all economical activity all there (technically seems to be possible but IMO very unlikely) could guarantee such model. This is an emergent phenomenon coming from huge network effect.
Monetary independence is about something else. It's about group of people being in touch with their currency and its workings. Having direct stake and interest in this currency. Having opt-in, opt-out possibility of ecosystem and changing it to another one. Hive direct influence by voting with stake to vote for witnessess who also have a stake in system which incentives them for making decisions in favor of the best interest of currency and community.
In legacy financial system these incentives are decoupled and fiat currency doesn't actually belong to people using it. Non-electable institutions can with one decision change any parameter and ibfluence life of milliones without any responsibility. Having monetary independence is having ability to opt-out from this pathology.
I agree, but I'm not meaning 100% Hive Global Economic Domination when I talk about this independence. I mean self-sufficiency moreso. Putting aside the impossibility of it happening, because I agree with you there as well, total domination by anything to the extinguishment of all else would be undesirable and destructive, even if it was Hive doing that domination.
Hive is just inert code without the community of individuals behind it. When we're at a point where people can in-turn support themselves by interacting only within the Hive economy would we have the kind of indepedence I mean. I think I understand now that we're talking about two different concepts and what I'm saying is possibly better described as Economic Independence. Thank you for clarifying, I really do appreciate it.
However, I also think the two are intimately linked. Consider how you say:
We are in absolute agreement that this is a bad thing.
My point is that yes, we can opt-out with Hive as it is now, but that opting out is pretty abstract, because on a long enough timescale any one of us will be forced to opt-in again in order to feed and house ourselves.