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I think time has demonstrated that some form of (possibly itself centralized to some degree) incentive system can be important for a healthy decentralized ecosy

I think time has demonstrated that some form of (possibly itself centralized to some degree) incentive system can be important for a healthy decentralized ecosystem, but it doesn't necessarily have to be directly monetary: private trackers do pretty well with ratio systems, even through they're not wholly decentralized in the classical sense. I think this has a slightly ironic benefit in practice: by paying out in-kind, as it were, you inherently filter for participants who actually are after the functionality provided by the distributed system and aren't just out to make a quick buck, which leads to a better true believer:huckster ratio. Reminds me of how capitalistic incentives don't always translate to good content: see cooking recipe / other SEO blogspam, or capeshit. Scene respect is the sort of in-kind pseudocurrency that, while not without its own flaws, ime incentivizes better art.

meheleventyone 3y ago
In general I think it’s much more about utility and marketing spend versus convenience. Incentives like rewards are what keeps you a good citizen. Decentralized projects find it hard to achieve critical mass when they rely on personal ideology as the main driver of adoption, particularly in spheres where large centralized alternatives exist. Trackers and crypto are popular because they offer utility to users that you don’t find in centralized systems. You can even see the popularity of trackers shift as centralized services like Netflix appeared and then got worse. Crypto is all about ‘degen gamblers’ but as a result has oodles of cash, that in turn they’ve been spending hand over fist on marketing to get in more greater fools. The problem for crypto is how to square the utility they provide with the ideological mission whilst still managing to maintain momentum when arguably moving to the latter cannibalizes the former.
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throwaway2562 3y ago
> Scene respect is the sort of in-kind pseudocurrency that, while not without its own flaws, ime incentivizes better art. Interesting. Let me disagree though. As an intangible, unquantifiable pseudocurrency - we’re getting into the realm where currency-as-analogy sounds both pointed and on-topic, but is a somewhat strained analogy - ‘scene respect’ is as corrosive, perverting and uh… pervertible as any other incentive. It breeds quasi-religions, staffed by gurus and followers, blighted by orthodoxies and schisms. All of which the pre- and post-bust cryptoverse has. All of which seem to matter very little when real money arrives, which it may well again.

meheleventyone 3y ago

In general I think it’s much more about utility and marketing spend versus convenience. Incentives like rewards are what keeps you a good citizen. Decentralized projects find it hard to achieve critical mass when they rely on personal ideology as the main driver of adoption, particularly in spheres where large centralized alternatives exist. Trackers and crypto are popular because they offer utility to users that you don’t find in centralized systems. You can even see the popularity of trackers shift as centralized services like Netflix appeared and then got worse. Crypto is all about ‘degen gamblers’ but as a result has oodles of cash, that in turn they’ve been spending hand over fist on marketing to get in more greater fools. The problem for crypto is how to square the utility they provide with the ideological mission whilst still managing to maintain momentum when arguably moving to the latter cannibalizes the former.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

throwaway2562 3y ago

> Scene respect is the sort of in-kind pseudocurrency that, while not without its own flaws, ime incentivizes better art. Interesting. Let me disagree though. As an intangible, unquantifiable pseudocurrency - we’re getting into the realm where currency-as-analogy sounds both pointed and on-topic, but is a somewhat strained analogy - ‘scene respect’ is as corrosive, perverting and uh… pervertible as any other incentive. It breeds quasi-religions, staffed by gurus and followers, blighted by orthodoxies and schisms. All of which the pre- and post-bust cryptoverse has. All of which seem to matter very little when real money arrives, which it may well again.