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Many of us take for granted what a blockchain like Steem really offers.  It is easy to get lost in all the events taking place on here.  We all want what we do and are looking at things from that perspective.

There is, however, something much bigger to consider. There is a paradigm shift that is starting to take place and we are a part of it.  Our activities on here extend far beyond the social media realm.  We are doing a lot more than just posting some content or engaging with DApps.  

Essentially, we are part of the movement that is helping to create the paradigm shift.

Blockchain is a path to freedom.  Do you love freedom and believe that every human being deserves that?  If you do, I suggest you look at this from that perspective.  We now live in a world where freedom is being taken away.  A platform like Steem allows us to start taking it back.  

There are many advantages to blockchain, something I feel the ecosystem needs to take a look at.  Overall, I think that we are too narrow in our focus.  We have a bunch of people who are content to make this a little blogging platform.  That is the wrong view.  To start, a case could be made that Steem already evolved passed that.  Secondly, there is a lot more taking place that is needed.

In short, what we are creating on here is vital to humanity.  

### Fast AND Free
This is something that should be touted at every turn.  Commerce requires transactions to be fast.  This we know.  Headlines are made with Bitcoin and Ethereum about their inability to scale.  They simply cannot even think about competing with the existing structures at this point without the ability to ramp up.

Steem does not have this problem.  I will grant it is not the fastest network going but 3 seconds still can handle most transactions.  Think about how often you are standing at a point-of-sale device, waiting for approval.  There are times it is longer than what is on here.

The Free part is also vital.  Many discuss the idea of paying for a cup of coffee with cryptocurrency.  This is not going to happen if the mining and/or RAM costs end up adding 10%-30% to the cost of a cup of coffee.  That is not to say the costs will always be high but we know they can spike.  The challenge is people will not even be aware of when that happens until they conduct the transaction and see the result.  

### Monetary Freedom

There is no way for anyone to have freedom when they have no control over their money.  When it can be taken away on a whim, that is slavery, pure and simple.  We are all wards of the state at that time.

Money in the bank can be taken away just like art, property, and other financial assets.  Governments give themselves the right to just take stuff without cause.  

This is ultimately what we are looking to overcome.  Providing people with the ability to keep their money away from seizure and forced forfeiture might be the most vital characteristic of blockchain.  

Think it is not taking place.  Check this story out where the IRS took money out of people's bank accounts without cause AND REFUSED TO GIVE IT BACK.

https://www.rt.com/usa/199883-irs-structuring-civil-asset-forfeiture/

Think taxation is theft? Now they are not even resorting to that.  They just simply take the money based upon the idea there might be a crime committed.  

This is the world we live in.

### Devaluation

Governments devalue their money.  Look at what took place in Venezuela.  The people of that country are able to wallpaper their walls with that currency.  The inflation rate is so high that it is impossible to use as a currency.  Enormous amounts of wealth were destroyed because of these actions.

What problems does this cause?  I have a friend who just went to Colombia.  At one point, they encountered a bunch of poverty stricken people (even by Colombia standards) panhandling.  Later in the day, he was talking with the woman who cleaned the unit they were renting.  She said those were Venezuelan refugees.  What is interesting about those people is they were not the poor in Venezuela but the affluent.  They are the doctors and lawyers; the ones who could afford to get out yet had to leave with nothing.

How is that human freedom when a government, coupled with the politics of an American President, can cause such damage?  It obviously is not.

And once again, we see the confiscation of people's money.

### We Keep Going
To my knowledge, the blockchain just keeps going.

Steem is 3 years old.  That is a rather long time compared to many blockchains.  The most vulnerable time for a blockchain is in the beginning.  As time goes by, the system gets more secure.  In fact, with the implementation of MIRA soon, Steem will take another step in that area.

I have yet to read a Witness report where a block was even missed.   The last time I checked, we had somewhere around 150 Witness nodes operating.  They all share, to varying degrees, in the verification of the transactions on here.  

Why do I bring all of this up?

Stellar, the blockchain that IBM is doing a lot on, went down for two hours the other day.  It was a mystery and few people noticed (I guess that tells you how much activity is on there).  The sad thing is they had an idea it was coming.

>While the downtime was not caused by nodes of the Stellar Development Foundation, it nonetheless reveals the fragility within the Stellar blockchain network.  Such downtime would be unthinkable in Bitcoin or another PoW blockchain.

>But for Stellar, not only is it thinkable, they’ve been thinking about it quite a bit. 

This is the system that IBM is out there touting and looking to place their enterprise products on.  

It is interesting they are thinking the solution is decentralization.  I thought that was a common idea across the industry.  In fact, wasn't that Satoshi's original vision that we are all using?  

https://cryptobriefing.com/stellar-downtime-reveals-network-weakness-investor-strength/

Once again, through MIRA, Steem is providing the ability for each application to host a master node.  If the price of SSD memory keeps declining, we will see the cost of running these decrease over time even as the blockchain increases in length.  This will further spur decentralization.  

Think about it, going to the absurd, if it got down to $10 or $15 a month, how many on here would run a node simply to help out with your stake in the ecosystem.  Most of us in the developed world could handle that no problem.  

Steem is a vital part of the future.  I know this sounds over the top but if you research what is out there and the solutions that blockchain offers, we are right in the middle of it.  Steem, contrary to the view of many on here, is not a flailing like a wounded duck.  There is a lot taking place at the base layer (along with layer 2) that is going to hold appeal to many.  

When it is understood how crucial this is, one's dedication takes another turn up.  

I cut the cord with the cable company about 13 years ago.  At that time, it was a rarity to see someone do that.  Fast forward a decade later, and the cable companies were well aware of "cord cutting".  It affected their revenues.

It is the same thing here.  For each dollar we get out of the traditional banking system and into cryptocurrency, that is less that system has to use against us.   Also, as we participate in the ecosystem more, the entire platform grows.  Posting on here takes away from Facebook and Google.  Each person we convert is another brick in the foundation for freedom.  

I honestly believe this is truly what is at stake.  Trust me when I tell you technology is coming in fast and hard.  There are things being worked on that we do not want solely in the hands of government or mega-corporations.  It is vital for there to be another alternative.

We are helping to construct that.

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