The economy of generative consumption through Hive

A lot of life's most enjoyable things take a lot of uncomfortable prerequisite work to be done and it is generally impossible to skip ahead too far, before being reeled back into doing that work. I see this as part of the issue with investing too - where a lot of people seem to think it is easy, but forget that the financial availability to invest has to be made first. Though, we do see people trying to cut corners often and make the "easy" move to invest on debt, with many losing their house, like in the Bitconnect scam of 2017.

I think that this is actually a problem in crypto, where a lot of people seem to not only think that one can get rich, but a lot of people have made some cheap money in the past, without necessarily having built the experience and understanding about the value of money. We often hear parents say things like, "children don't value money, because they haven't earned it" and I think that in crypto, there are a lot of children. People who got it easy and therefore, easy come, easy go.

I have had a bit of this myself as after a few good trades and a lot of work earning, I have been able to build a stack of coins and value that I wouldn't have been able to generate from either of my two jobs, as I can't save much of what I earn currently. Not only this, I have enjoyed the process of building that portfolio, making it "easier" in some way, as I want to put the work in. For me however, I have also worked a massive amount through my life and have done since I was a kid, earning what I can where I can. This means that I do have some understanding and experience about the value of money and know how hard it can be to come by, even when putting in the effort consistently and over time.

The fact is though, most people will probably do better on average if they work hard in a traditional job than try to make it in crypto alone, because the traditional job will be able to maintain life, so that the crypto earnings can be reinvested cheaply. Cheaply meaning that there is far less opportunity cost, as it can be treated as additional and disposable income that doesn't take away from "normal" life - but it doesn't add to it either.

For me who is playing financial catch-up, this is very important as the moment that I make the value from income "spendable", I lose some of the investment mindset associated with it, meaning I risk encroaching into the capital and using it for living, rather than investing. There is nothing wrong with doing this if in need or if one already considers themselves as having enough - but the more the hand releases, the looser the grip can hold.

I was thinking about this a little today while I dealt with some of the financial situations at home and was thinking about that future" price of Hive scenario, that creeps in, especially when times are tight and there is the temptation to dip into the portfolio, something I have never done.

Currently my vote is around $1.20 and the price of Hive is around 15 cents. This means that I can generate about 12 dollars of value a day, with me getting about 50% of that through curation, so 6 dollars. This is about 180 dollars a month, which doesn't go far. But, if price went 10x to $1.50 - that becomes 1800 in curation value, which "suddenly" becomes a significant portion of my monthly potential income. I say suddenly, because I have been building this potential through my work and effort for almost 4 years, and am yet to get anything other than an emotional ROI.

There is obvious risk in this view of course, as there is with any investment that is worth something. Firstly, $1,50 HIVE seems a very long way away - secondly, it would have to maintain at that level for some significant portion of time to make the previous work put in, worth it. Often people say that they "could earn more flipping burgers" which is true, but to continually earn more means that price of HIVE would be relatively depressed long-term and, those burgers will always need to be flipped. The funny thing is that if a person flipped those burgers for a few years and treated the pay as an investment resource only, they could buy HIVE with it and earn curation all the way up to a dollar, 5 dollar or ten dollar HIVE. This would make their burger flipping time far, far more valuable.

But, this is where I think a lot of people do not understand the value of money, as most see it as the potential to buy stuff with and see investing as an opportunity cost, but it isn't quite the case. Investing is an act of consumption too, it is just an act that looks to generate a return of more wealth, rather than a feeling of having a new pair of shoes.

Generative consumption.

And I think that this is what is a key component of Hive as a social infrastructure of wealth management, as it allows consumers to invest themselves and their financial availability into a generative ecosystem of multi-tiered consumption. There is give and take and a return on activity, while still offering a lot of the feeling benefits of consumption of goods and services. In many ways, this is what the financial industries do with their wealth, as everything they spend their money upon has to offer the potential for a monetary ROI - but instead of buying designer jeans, they are buying into startup companies, established business, real estate and financing it with the insatiable appetite of their customers, who do not demand an ROI on their own wealth - just a good feeling of being able to buy something wanted.

Generative consumption is probably the only model that will be able to effectively replace the current economy for the betterment of the majority, because we are currently so driven by consumer habit, that trying to put a halt on consumptive activity will meet too much resistance. Instead, we need to learn to consume better and in regards to our own economic opportunity, that means to consume what generates value for us in more ways than feeling alone.

Considering that we live in a world that for better or worse, is heavily affected by what value something can bring to the market, it means that to change the way the world operates, requires changing our consumer habits. This could be in ways that spread wealth wider, or ways that improve conditions general to us all, like the environmental conditions we are all subject to globally. Because financial institutions care only about the ROI, it means that they can invest themselves into anything: whether it be war, genocide or the latest drug that offers expensive relief, but suppresses the search for, or release of a cure - and they feel nothing.

The only way to improve ourselves of course, is to invest into ourselves, something that no one else can do for us, even if they were willing. What can happen however is that we can create the space for the opportunity of self-improvement and the more who participate, the more opportunity can spread.

Welcome to Hive.

Taraz [ Gen1: Hive ]

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