I had the pleasure of having a conversation with Larken Rose (@larkenrose) and Amanda Rachwitz (@dragonanarchist) this week to discuss progess on the Mirror Project and how Steemit has been helping fund the project.
The Mirror is an ambitious project which hopes to bring the philosophy of anarchy to the masses in game format.
As we all know, most people are too dumbed down from 12 years in government indoctrination camps (schools), fluoridated water and thousands of hours of mainstream media propaganda to be able to sit down and read a book.
The Mirror hopes to use a video game format to make even the most brainwashed statist realize the contradictions in their own head and, all on their own, become anarchists/voluntarists.
It's a huge project which encompasses 3-D modeling, game engine architecture, voice-overs and animation.
Amanda Rachwitz was in Pennsylvania to record the voice-overs with Larken when I caught up with them to get an update.
The majority of the conversation centers around Steemit
Some of the topics covered include:
-How to cash out of earned Steem dollars
-Steemit is not a scam as it is all voluntary and transparent
-How Steemit incentivizes creating excellent content
-Where does the money come from to pay content producers?
-Why or why not to invest in Steem Power
-Steemit's structure creates a mostly troll free environment.
-Support activists through up voting
You can see the full interview, exclusively here on Steemit (it is unlisted on Youtube) for the next 24 hours here:
If you've seen past Steemit videos of mine on Youtube, you'll notice it gets a lot of people down voting it and calling Steemit a "scam". Please take this 24 hour period to "like" the video if you enjoyed it and also make comments on your experience with Steemit, before all the trolls get on.
Tomorrow I'll be publishing a debate/conversation with Tone Vays on Steemit. Tone has been an outspoken anti-Steemer. It'll be available here first exclusively on Steemit.
Remember to follow me @dollarvigilante to ensure you see these exclusive videos and other articles first.
[Edit: Steem dollars earned on this post will be shared with @larkenrose and @dragonanarchist]
This is a huge plus, but one mitigating thing is a lack of raw dissenting opinions (you probably disagree due to the backlash on a couple of your posts, but the majority of the posts on this site contain milktoast agreeing responses due to the nature of economics and people not wanting to put more time and effort into something with likely as great a reward as they can receive in a few short words). Many of the commenters simply drop a substance-free praise hoping for some upvotes from the whale or semi-whale author.
But appreciate you educating the masses on steem, gave your video a like on youtube and left a comment.
With regards to this game, is there any website we can visit? I tried googling "the mirror project" but the only thing that came up was a site posting pictures off reflective surfaces lol
For me personally, I know I'm still willing to disagree with someone on Steemit, but I'm also acutely aware of my tone when I do it. Even if I do strongly agree with someone, I might start by talking about the things we do agree on, or with a compliment, or wishing them a good day. It's made me realise that, for years, I've been really annoying every time I leave a strong comment.
Here are a couple of videos relating to the mirror
Agree completely... this i s something others have noticed. people call it the circlejerk. There is allegedly a movement away from this, but it is heavily incentivized in the current system.
side note: Have really enjoyed your posts.... I actually played professionally for many years (though i eventually went over to the business side of the gambling industry)
Oh yeah? What did you play and what did you transition over to?
I played mostly LO8, live and online (stars and tilt). For most of the time between the UIGEA and BF i was a reg at the 30-60LO8 game and the 40-80 mix game at the B. No, im not 80.
I was an OK nlhe player but given a choice between that and practically any other game, my choice was almost always the other game. Esepcially online, from the uigea onward i really felt kind of outclassed in NLHE on stars and tilt.
Post uigea, i was also involved in helping people get money on and off the major sites. Post black friday, i ran a vpn network. that led to helping start a DNM and a bunch of other highly lucrative, somewhat shady stuff,. Now im an attorney, which is what i went to school for. I mostly help off shore business establish a presence in the US.
linked my intro post with some of my back story:
https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@sigmajin/attorney-gambler-businessman-and-soon-to-be-former-steem-ian
Just as a side note, if the steemit circle jerk reminds me of anything from the poker universe, it was the lovefest you usually saw with regard to full tilt poker and its management and administration on forums like 2p2, p5s and full tilts own forum from about 2008 until black friday.
Re: Jeff's comment about making thousands of dollars per post
When the price of Steem took one of its first big surges, from around 25c to $4, we started to see some huge payouts... One of them was for a make-up tutorial which made about $25k, much to the chagrin and confusion of certain people on Steemit.
The thing is, it's true that the more people join Steemit, the less Steem there will be to distribute. However, it's also true that the more people join, the more demand there is for Steem, and the higher the price. Perhaps we'll see the rewards stay the same, but we might even see them go up. Imagine if Steemit were paying out $10 MM a day, with 500k users... could happen.
This is true @churdtzu, and something I hadn't fully considered. If demand for Steem keeps up with growth of the audience then it should not result in lower payouts. The distribution of those payouts could become more widely diversified though (and that is quite likely), which could result in the top earners today earning less on a percentage basis.
this ^
this isnt necessarily true. Why would someone joining steemit need or want to buy steem?
the likelihood is high that they will choose to get steem if they find it preferable to creating content to earn it.
For instance...a Dr. who makes $200k per year might want to give back to people who they think write amazing content, but not have the time (nor inclination) to write their own content. This is a prime candidate for the type of person who might like steem.
or someone who is running a record label...
Many cases where it is worthwhile to buy steem to have influence in the network.
this presumes that they see utility in it commensurate with the investment. No such utility exists.
As i said in my reply to chrudtzu, i think its incredibly optimistic to believe that people will invest a huge sum for a very tiny amount of influence. I certainly wouldnt, and ive owned and run several businesses. The doctor who makes 200K a year can't really afford me, but the doctor who makes 10x that might be a client. Im the guy he goes to to find out if an investment is on the up and up.
Even absent due diligence, your doctor example just doesnt make sense. You think hes going to buy steem for the purposes of rewarding content that's published on steemit.... lets assume he he invests his entire annual salary in steem at the current price point.
Hell get about what 140K steem.... so the "reward" hell be able to distribute to this valuable content would be about two bucks. you go make that pitch, see how its recieved.
Yes, i understand that there are people who have invested money. Many (like me) already regret it (i powered up 5500 steem or so shortly after i sold the bulk of my investment in the currency)
the strongest argument against your position is simply the reality of where the price is at and where it seems to be going. Now i know there are several well-"price-hype" propaganda types on the front page every day. Maybe the whales who upvote them even believe the hype.
I just wonder if theres a reality check in the furure where you guys realize that, as things stand, people don't want to buy what you got to sell.
Im not saying this to be a douche or a hater. I actually like steem as an idea, and its already made me quite a bit of money as an investor if not as a writer. At least at one point, i thought that steem was a good enough idea to take $40k out of pocket and invest it in the currency.
At the end of the day, getting people to buy steem is about delivering utility in exchange for money. youre just not offering enough utility
I didn't say they would necessarily buy Steem; I said there would be more demand, and this is true for a few reasons.
Firstly, when they start curating or writing content, they're going to receive some Steem dollars or Steem power. The fact that they're holding that currency, and not giving it away for free, is demand. Holding is demand just as much as buying is demand.
Secondly, the more people join, the more valuable Steem becomes, because Steem can help buy people's attention. Attention is valuable, because it allows you to have influence over people's opinions.
No, just people earning SP and holding it is not demand, at least not in the economics sense as effecting price (which is the context in which you used it). Just people earning steem and not selling it won't increase price. (if they did sell it, it would decrease the price, but if they earn it and just hold it it won't have any effect on price.)
You can't really buy peoples attention with steem. Not unless youre willing to buy a couple million dollars worth. You seriously think someone is going to buy thousands of dollars worth of steem so that their vote can go from a tiny fraction of a cent in value to a slightly larger fraction of a cent in value? thats kind of optimistic
I disagree, and if you'll allow me, I'd like to make the case why holding is indeed demand in the economic sense of affecting price.
If people didn't hold gold, but instead threw it out in the street or in their garbage collection, would it affect the price or not? It would mean that the available supply would increase significantly. The fact that people were willing to throw it out without receiving any money for it, would mean that $0 was an acceptable price for them. If there were other people who did put a non-zero price on gold, any pricing mechanism would have to account for this increase in the supply.
Or to look at it another way, if the largest gold producer in the world decided, instead of selling their gold, that they were going to hold onto all of it, would that affect the price or not?
To put it yet another way, if you bought something and then immediately and extravagantly gave it away for free, flooding the market, how would that affect the price? If you buy, but do not hold, is that really a stable, established demand?
Yet one more way of looking at it, is that, if everyone in the world decided that they didn't want to hold gold, but to sell it, how would that affect the price of gold? Surely if they want to sell it, that must mean a decrease in demand, and an increase in supply, and therefore, the price will go down.
Whether you're buying something or holding something, the effect is the same - a decrease in supply available for purchase. If something is worth enough to you that you take the time to secure it, you are exerting effort to maintain it. So, from one perspective, that means you are constantly "buying" that commodity.
If a couple of million dollars' worth buys a large amount of attention, then ten thousand dollars' worth must buy a small amount of attention. With the amount of Steem power I have, if I look at a post with say 5-10 comments, I can normally decide which comment is going to be at the top. I can also decide which comments will be at the bottom, though normally I abstain from exercising that right. If a company has an advertising budget of millions of dollars, and they understand this technology, do you think it would be worthwhile to invest tens of thousands of dollars in Steem so they can have that kind of influence? Especially considering that, using Steem power, they can upvote their own posts, giving themselves more capital while expending very little energy.
It's not optimistic; it's reality. I can name a few cases of people doing this. For me personally, I could have cashed out some Steem dollars, but instead decided to power up for $1000 or more. @dollarvigilante has done the same, with all of his Steem dollars. @cryptomarket invested 6 BTC in their account when they started.
Perhaps, instead of telling me that people aren't going to do that, you should be asking, why are they already doing that? Of course, it's not purely because they think they can buy people's attention with it, but that's definitely a factor in the equation.
Thanks for your comment and have a good one
I dont like people that say they can consantly make money here.
It is pretty annoying, because your payout depends on community actually.
But we have people here that get thousands of dollars every day at their every post, comment etc.- even if it's not so good.
for example, @fuck.off
just look there, he gets few hundred for nothing... Is it fair? I really doubt it.
Yep. No different than YouTube. First there was little payout because it was an unknown (and YouTube wasn't paying.) Then there were good payouts for early adopters with high number of views. Then more creators joined as well as watchers so the pie grew but so did the competition. Markets. You know I love 'em.
Wonderful video you three! You lay it all out clean, and people watching it because of the attention on Steemit all of a sudden know about The Mirror as well :-) You're all featured in my next post, around 9am PST/noon EST tomorrow, talking a good bit about Anarchapulco, getting really excited for this winter!
"The 40 anarchists you want to follow on Steemit!" is up, and @dollarvigilante, @dragonanarchist, and @larkenrose are all on the list :-) You can find it here
This was a fun interview, I am excited about the possibilities behind Steemit and I can see the massive potential behind the concept it is founded on. Thanks so much, Jeff, for the opportunity to have your platform to talk about the merits of Steemit and the economic implications for the globe if such social media platforms really take off and do well.
Thanks to all who left positive or balanced feedback!
Another wonderful video @dragonanarchist! That was quite the trifecta of awesome anarchists :-)
so complicated, there's beauty in simplicity
I like watching videos instead of reading. Youtube got me used to watching blogs that way :) Thank you.
Youtube addict eh? Grrr....go grab a book.
Then you may like this video I made of Larken Rose's essay The Myth Of Authority
May the force stay with Steem and us all: All for one and one for all! Namaste :)
Thanks for doing this @dollarvigilante! You have no idea how many ideas for posts I've got from this one video alone lol. Keep asking the right questions, I think you have the right personality when it comes to connecting with closet anarchists (which is everyone, in my opinion).
I find the approach pretty ingenious @dragonanarchist @larkenrose , once when I was writing my book, I was thinking what's the best way to write for a group people in which aren't really on your side? I wonder if i can replicate some of the ideas that you guys have been implementing for the game. Very fascinating.. thanks for doing this!
Great show, Jeff. I'm also looking forward to your upcoming conversation with Tone Vays. He's been quite vocal on Twitter about calling Steemit a ponzi scheme, and I'll listen to what he has to say... give him a chance to convince us if he thinks he has a point. We can decide...
Just joined steemit and saw this post, checking out your blog now @dollarvigilante but I think I am going to like it.
Edit: Holy hells bells just checked your profile and in less than 2 weeks you made $42k on steemit....man I wished I could do that......you got it dude!
(
@dollarvigilante, @larkenrose, @dragonanarchist - Another thing you may not have had happen. This platform also encourages great commenting and engagement between the content creators, and their audience. In fact, it extends the content. You can actually have people up vote your comments quite a bit. That can encourage you guys to stick around and talk to your audience. You'll make even more. @dollarvigilante has posted a couple of great posts that he didn't really stick around to talk people (I looked to see what he'd posted and he posted the blogs and kind of left). So get involved in some dialogs and you can make money doing that. I've seen @larkenrose do this and debate with people, and it was good stuff. Oh and I do recall the @larkenrose dead sea scrolls post. :) That was pretty funny. I remember my eyes going cross eyed reading that, but I up voted it too. I didn't know @dragonanarchist before steemit. I'm glad all of you are here. Now we just need more people. :)
Great to see Steemit powering such ambitious projects. And you are doing a fantastic job promoting Steemit, which all of us benefit from!
Interesting about the Mirror project itself - don't you think that it might have issues with government institutions when it reaches a certain scale?
Might. Might not. Issues with what might happen are no reason not to try. The federales have hassled Larken to the point of a stay in prison, but he used the time to write books. At this unique moment of an overlap of mass communication being accessible to the mass, and the crumbling of a regulatory apparatus that was never real to begin with, who can predict the future?
Definitely it's not the reason not to try. I'm just thinking if they have assessed these risks or even they had to face any issues like that already
Great interview! Just finished it. I'm so very happy to see @larkenrose and @dragonanarchist loving this platform as much as I do. After a month or so of posting about Steemit on Facebook, it's really encouraging to know some people I'm friends with (Amanda, Sterlin, etc) may have noticed some of those posts and got curious themselves. It makes me feel special and valuable in some small way to the voluntaryism community.
Can you believe this is just getting started? The future possibilities get me so excited. My wife actually just powered up some of her blogging winnings today. Crazy! I love it. :)
This is great, I'm going to make my mom watch it. She's active on Facebook and Twitter, so I was trying to explain Steemit to her and get her to join our community. She's convinced it's some kind of scam to take all my money, lol. This should clear things up a bit.
Please allow me to indulge myself by posing the following inquiry:
What is the inspiration for the title of the game, The Mirror?
The title is reminiscent of an intriguing practice I read about in a novel written in 1895 by John Uri Lloyd, an american pharmacist, entitled Etidorpha.
The concept behind the practice described in the book is comparable to the concept described in the video for The Mirror, which you have kindly referenced above- that is, by seeing the inner workings of your own brain, you will be changed forever.
Was there any, pray-tell, inspiration for the title of the game found in the contents of this mysterious novel?
Jeff... It's great to see you getting paid finally for all the great work you do! Hey... I had a quick question. Considering steem dollars are pegged to the U.S. dollar... What happens to steem dollars if the U.S. dollar goes to zero??
https://steemit.com/money/@michaelmatthews/what-happens-if-you-re-pegged-to-something-that-goes-to-zero
Nice to put a face to a name.
By that talk of anarchy and freedom?
Are schools we educate to grow intellectually, but morally I don't teach anything if you really want to make a change is not going to do with her ass stuck to a Chair
Look video this is freedom
Great introduction to Steemit and how it supports a fantastic project. Love it!
Sweet bro! Make that cash and get yourself scarce. I don't want to see you get purged!
Excellent interview!
On one hand it is very sad that people are so dumbed down that not only do they not know fluoride is a neurotoxin and that schools were designed to create drones but the "only" way to get through to them is via a video game~
On the other hand its awesome that they are doing this and I hope they have great success. We are in dire need of re educating the masses as they have been programmed by an institution designed to create complacent statists.
Thanks for being a bad ass and sharing this new project with us here~
I published a very valuable article title "The Truth About Money" of which shows how the fiat currency, fractional reserve system works to keep people in perpetual debt. Seems very relevant for people appreciating your content so I will share it here.
Best Regards~*~
https://steemit.com/money/@quinneaker/the-truth-about-money-what-you-need-to-know-to-free-your-self-from-perpetual-debt
It's not just that games are fun, so do it as a video game. The video game format offers nonlinear paths through the maze of possibilities that a linear book simply can't match.
Lol - how many times did you click on the first image's play button?
Anyway, this sounds like an amazing project. I've started watching the video just now.
HAHAHAHAHAHA I clicked on it 3 times and was like well FUCK it and kept reading and realize as soon as I saw the next image that the first image was just a screen shot and that the video was at the bottom!
Hahaha
Sorry to cause confusion! By putting the Youtube play button on the main image, when it is shared on other networks it has a far higher chance of getting clicked on. ;)
Yup - me too :o)
It is amazing to have so many options available to tell our stories!
┌(▀Ĺ̯ ▀-͠ )┐
Thanks for the interesting interview, I'm going to watch it now and I'm anxious to know their opinions and explanations. Have a great day to all of you!
Very cool idea! - Watching video now- lovin' it! ( i'll have to refer my friends who are still doubters of the truth!) Sweet validation! Cheers! - upvoted, followed and shared!
Steem is the place to be. It's great to be along for the ride, and great to see so many prominent people making an effort to grow awareness and change the world as we know it.
NIce.. I hope this video usefull and help others to understand about steemit
i'm very poor i'm glad that this way i can still contribute via upvoting to such a fantastic project! just up and take my upvote ;)
Thanks for spreading the word! I follow you since August 2015 and now my friends think I turned crazy hahaha ;)
Great work as always @dollarvigilante! Steemit is no more a scam then the US Dollar and US Debt is a scam to the country. Steemit and Bitcoin are great safe havens for your money if you are worried about the US Debt and a devaluation of the dollar.
More details here!
https://steemit.com/money/@vee.kay/u-s-federal-government-deficit-last-week
I'm excited to be here at the beginning. I always seem to get into these things too late. Not this time...
Same here! Not this time! :)
I love the idea of a currency created from labor, instead of debt -- this is a true debt free currency!
Great post as usual Jeff. Steemit really is a great thing for us AnCaps, we're finally catching a break. Lol :)
If you down vote this you didn't watch the video. ;)
Screw you @larkenrose you look like a lumberjack!
EDIT: Could be worse. I currently look like a crazed santa claus.
I am a lumberjack (on occasion). That might explain it.
im getting a mental image of the monty python skit.
That's actually true. I made fun of @larkenrose at our roast at Anarchapulco by saying "I didn't even know Larken was here until someone said, 'Did you see that ginger lumberjack down by the pool wearing flannel?'"... Amanda told me afterwards, "We laughed because Larken actually used to be a lumberjack"... Knowing that, it made my joke somewhat less funny but also explains a lot about how he looks. :)
Hehe. Me too. I used to split a lot of wood. :) I wonder if my excuse for how I look could be that I have been known to be Santa Claus before. Nah, I kind of look like Einstein and Santa Claus had a baby. I really need to go get a hair cut before that annual company meeting in a few weeks... laugh
Great show as usual! Mirror sounds cool and Im glad steemit is helping to fund it.
NIce I see you are smoking....yeah, nice to meet smoker...I am smoker too, any way nice video
I live in an ecovillage (http://www.dancingrabbit.org) and share a lot of values with anarchists in many ways, but one thing I don't understand is how anarchists suggest responding to someone who is infringing on the rights of others if you don't have a state to turn to for help. How do you deal with this without a state in your ideal anarchist world?
This honestly was your best video yet..... Guests had AWESOME comment and you are really starting to understand the blockchain bit of it! I am happy man.... Never heard of you before steemit, but this was an enjoyable program. I am looking forward to what you do next.
A great video with great guests, and hilarious to boot!
follow u @dollarvigilante
👍nice video, and very interesting discussion
Up voted, and I am a fan for sure. But I do think the bubble will burst with the current business model. The money is coming from the exchanges - those buying Steem with either Bitcoin or Ether (mostly Poloniex). That volume is drying up and the price of Steem is going down. Something has got to give.
That said, there is still a lot of opportunity to fix the business model and bring in other sources of income. I think an Adsense style of bidding on ad space on the website could bring in a lot of money and fund the content producers, as well as increase the price of Steem and the interest in investing further. So.... as things are now, we will see the earnings drop until the business is modified. Why not do ads? This is how FB makes their money.
These are valid concerns. Please read this post where I try to address them.
Great video @dollarvigilante. Very enjoyable. Cheers!
amazing video. I've learnt a good lesson
You made the comment in the video @dollarvigilante that the thousands per post thing might go away if the mainstream catches on to it. Isn't it possible that with the popularity of the platform, that it would increase the value of Steem to the point that, even if you're earning less in terms of the cryptocurrency, you'll still be earning a similar dollar equivalent due to its increased value?