> If it's not built within a social fabric structure first, one that's built on ethics and morals, then it's oligarchy. 

That's an excellent point. No free market can exist in a moral vacuum. I'd say a legal framework and a public monopoly of violence capable of effective law enforcement are quite essential, too. 

>(like steem).

What we're seeing now is the community asserting itself in the enforcement of the standards of acceptable behavior. The bid bot industry is finished and both Bernie and Haejin have stopped their troll wars and gone for manual curation. Only a month ago, I would never have believed I was going to see all that.

> Might is right, zero accountability.

Arming the user base with free downvotes brought accountability to everyone. I've seen the exploitative practices of opportunistic whales being negated. Many of the rest saw the writing on the wall and mended their ways.

> No reference except profit?

>That's corporatism. The clue is in the the word corps(e).
>No personal accountability = playground of the psychopath.

I deliberately wrote this piece from the point of view of a selfish maximizer. I thought I was very clear on that. Of course, there are other types of motives among various players in this ecosystem.

> "The management of any corporation has a duty to maximize shareholder value first and foremost."

> Yeah and look where that's got us. Not an argument.
> ....fun fact - a study was carried out of lots of top strata corp individuals, and psychopaths were at a much > higher %, than the general population.

Look, if you're trying to build anything on pure altruism, you're going to lose. You have to build upon a realistic premise. You need a moral and a legal framework in which a free market can operate. But you can't base anything on altruism and people behaving morally alone.

>....Just because the lunatics have taken over the asylum, it isn't an argument to endorse the continuation >of the model.

What model? I think the model on Steem was recently revamped and the results are looking pretty good already.

> Decentralization starts with corporations. (in the real world).

Yep. 

>Altruism doesn't exist.

It does but it's a limited resource you can't build anything if it's the only foundation you have.