"Things sure have changed around Hive, haven't they?", a good friend of mine states, with a sad undertoned voice. The only thing I can do right now is confirm with a slight head tilt, almost in a Japanese fashion. It had been a long time since I even had given it a single thought. "The only thing that is certain in life is that everything constantly changes.", somehow that sounds silly boring to me, especially coming from my own mouth. It's a kind of wannabe guru bullshit, even thought it's true, it's like kicking in an open door. "Steem, back in 2016, was a new adventure for me, freedom of expression, locked in a blockchain (isn't it ironic?). It made me even write a song about it. Glory days my friend, but they pass by."
Hah, after all those years, I still do it, hide song texts in my publications. Some are bleeding obvious, I know, but all habits, in the long run, stay alive in some form or way. Like I quit smoking many eons ago, but picked up whisky drinking. And I don't know which hobby is more expensive actually. But I divert, something I also tend to do. Do not worry though, at some point I will get back to the original subject. Or at least I do tend to believe so.
For me sobertober has passed by. Yeah, that's something I came up with myself. Even there's a song title hidden in there somewhere. Could Computer Intelligence Applications {CIA} (or do you perhaps prefer to name it A I ?) create this kind of nonsense? From my own recent experiments I can state that it would outperform me, hands down (if 'it' had hands, that is). It ain't half bad though, I think. The playlist that I use during some of my long walks is home made prompted music, and I like it. Still I can write the lyrics, describe the music style and so on, while in the end I enjoy how it sounds. (It turns out Polka, Ska, Punk and Metal do blend together very well, at least for me.)
Ah, those early days in Steem (that's how Hive started on March the 23rd 2016). Posting every day, after I joined in May of that year. There was no 'policing', no 'verification' and no payout, yet... "No ruler", actually it is what Anarchy means, instead of the claim that's the same as Chaos. There were talented artists, free-thinkers, poets, writers, musicians, scientists and nutcases like me. It blew my mind, in a nice way. All autonomous individuals who interacted with each other on a voluntary basis. Yes, I know, as a Grumpy Man, I tend to believe that in the past not everything was better, but only the things that matter.
There were doubts that the payouts even would become real. On the 4th of July 2016, that was supposed to happen. And you know, that uncertainty did not keep any of us from not publishing. Only on a later stage I did find out how so called 'Ninja mining' actually created some control accounts. Which became a Steem sell-out to some rich Chinese guy. In the first year of the Steem blockchain over 250 million of it's Coins were mined! That really was a downer. Hyperinflation was build in from the start, hard to even put a high price on Hive, because of that dirty trick. Still, I did what I thought was the right thing to do: move on with the Hive blockchain split.
Now and then I still do take a peak. There's a few publications I still read and sometimes I unfortunately miss the '7 days' voting lock. No automated voting and trailing for me though. Even though that might make me a few more Hive cents. But that's not why I'm still here, I guess. And with A.I. gaining ground rapidly it is becoming more and more of a challenge to come up with some really human driven interesting publications. Yet, I do refuse any of the: 'proof that you are who you pretend to be' crap. That mentality is what I think killed the good freedom of expression spirit, that Steem once had and Hive lost. But again, let me remind you that I'm just an old goat, who could use a fine Laphroaig 10 cask strength right now.
Ailaa and behold, it is time for me to round things up for now. As I want to go out on foot and enjoy the shitty cloudy rainy weather for a few hours. That might sound a bit shait, I know, but it actually isn't... As real life is out there, the change of seasons becoming pretty obvious by now. Watching all the amazing color changes of the tree leafs, wondering which mushrooms I could eat and get away with it. Still some wild berries left here and there, almost ethanolic sweet. It really ain't half bad. Just like meeting others in real life. The 'Matrix' is already here, you're viewing it, right now, using a smart device.
Outside of that is real life and I wish and hope for you and your dear ones that it ain't half bad, at least. And remember, whatever you do, if somebody asks you to verify me on this blockchain, then please refuse, firm but kindly. As you may know me in real life, that's the only thing that matters to me. And freedom of expression, even if we agree to disagree, that's the true spirit. Ow, and peace on earth, for fuck's sake!
Have a great one!
Please note, the autumn photos I share here were actually made by me during my walks. Hopefully you can enjoy them.
