The Road to Genuine Reputation

Who are we?

Context: The Atlas is meant to be a forum for the discussion of topics at the intersection of decentralized identity, data, knowledge, reputation, social, etc., since this thread of conversation did not yet have a neutral home.

We will be hosting periodic “Expeditions” on specific topics to get the conversation flowing.

This week, join us on a journey into the land of reputation. Here’s a blog post to get us started and to get our wheels turning!

What is “reputation”?

Understanding the ‘self’ is a multi-dimensional challenge. Drawing from various disciplines, we understand that thoughts, emotions, and feelings form the core components of one’s identity. However, it is not these internal constructs, but rather our external manifestations and actions that define our identity from the perspective of society.

This, we may denote as our “reputation”.

“Do as I say, not as I do” “

Actions speak louder than words”

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions”

The list goes on.

Ideas are the precursor to all great innovations and inventions. But without manifestation in the physical world through action, they remain just that, potential. Within each of us is infinite potential; however, in this life, we are defined through action. Our actions are what echo through time, stamping their mark onto our current plane of existence. To delineate ‘Identity/Form’ from ‘Reputation’, and ‘Idea’ from ‘Action’, let us look at the extremes.

A person with a troubled mind, representing a ‘dark’ Form, may have a very good reputation, as they may choose to ignore their thoughts and act in accordance with ‘good’. Similarly, someone with a good and brilliant mind may have a poor reputation, as their actions may be lazy, fearful, or standoffish.

Ideas serve as the foundational blocks upon which tangible outcomes are built. However, the translation of an idea into actionable outcomes is the only way to materialize it in the world. The ‘action’ phase is often a complex process, involving planning, execution, coordination, and communication. The magnitude of effort required often increases proportionally with the scale and novelty of the idea.

Integration is often the hardest part of “doing the work”.

If actions dictate our reputation, what does our digital reputation look like? And why? Here, we examine our digital reputation, what we can do to raise the bar, and what we can do once the bar has been raised.

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Capturing “who we truly are”

With the advent of digital platforms, reputation assessment has evolved significantly. Big tech conglomerates have made a business of capturing our actions to paint a significant picture of who we are, granting them the ability to target us specifically with ads to generate billions of dollars in revenue. However accurate, these contextual reputations often provide a limited perspective and focus on the immediate actions without considering broader contextual variables. This reductionist approach results in a fragmented and sometimes inaccurate representation of an individual’s character and intent, and we are beginning to suffer the consequences.

The fact that one can prompt Midjourney for 10000 Intuition logos does not mean that the only thing I think about is Intuition logos, though this may comprise the entirety of my ‘Midjourney reputation’. Similarly, the fact that I deposit some ETH into a yield farm does not signal that I believe in the long-term viability of the project or have high conviction in the team; it may just be representative of the fact that I have decided the R/R profile of the farm is adequate, diluting the signal to be derived from this noise.

Additionally, because platforms limit our actions, our reputation within each context is constrained by the games we are coerced into playing, the actions we are able to take within those games (here, “game” is defined loosely — everything is a game), and the signal that the algorithms with access to the data are able to derive. With this, we enter into another sticky trap: game developers use addictive mechanics to get people to perform meaningless, arbitrary tasks in equally meaningless, arbitrary worlds to receive equally meaningless, arbitrary rewards.

Millions, if not billions, are ensnared by these digital games, whether it is the game of Instagram or the game of World of Warcraft or the game of middle America — continuously bending to the platform’s will, willingly and unwittingly serfs in a subliminal game of time, attention, and energy.

The result: poor reputation.

This is the focus of so many, if not all, reputation players.

“Analyze people’s behaviors to determine their reputation!”

Yes! But also, society is unwell. The people are broken. The actions they are taking do not resonate with them. They are depressed and anxious. Their souls are fading. And the system they exist most definitely has a role to play in all of this. Everywhere you turn is another trap of society, requiring sometimes insurmountable willpower and strength to escape.

Doing what we can to help

How much of a person’s reputation is due to their environment and circumstantial factors, and how much is due to their ‘identity’? Should society not take some amount of blame for the contextual reputation scores of the individual? Should societal factors not play a role in determining a person’s reputation? Should someone from a less-privileged region of the world be treated equally by the system, or should we take those variables into account when determining their ‘reputation’, giving them a boost for trying their best given the hand they are dealt?

We must recognize the power and potential of the games we create and the malleability of the majority of the populace. We have just come into this power, and as such, have not yet figured out how to appropriately use it. No one has done anything wrong; it is merely human nature, and the natural ordering of events. This era too shall pass, so long as we recognize the current state of affairs and take appropriate remedial action.

Leveraging game mechanics outside of traditional gaming contexts presents an opportunity. By employing these mechanics in other domains, there’s potential to drive productive behaviors, promote self-reflection, and gather nuanced data on user preferences and tendencies — for the users themselves, instead of for businesses attempting to target, trap, and sell.

With this, we can give everyone the opportunity to forge their own path and express their true ‘form’, so that each individual’s ‘reputation’ is more deeply correlated with their ‘identity’.

What comes next?

While some may be able to successfully navigate the current path, we can build better paths for people to take. It is important for us to act maturely and intentionally, recognize the power we have at our fingertips, and use this power for good instead of purely profit. Without this, our ‘reputation’ systems will be flawed, as they will not be as good of an indicator of the true ‘form’ of individuals.

This multi-step process includes:

1. Offering individuals opportunities through games designed to yield positive, productive outcomes for both the individuals and society.
2. Empowering individuals by returning data sovereignty back to the user. Let users monetize and analyze their data, enabling them to better self-sustain (especially in a post-job world) and escape vendor lock-in.
3. Democratize access to the algorithms. Allow users to run these algorithms over their own personal data set, and allow them to see the results, without revealing the underlying data itself to big tech (unless selectively disclosed). Point people in the right direction based on the output of these algorithms in a user-centric and trustless way, encouraging them to participate in different productive ‘games’ based on what the models determine is optimal.

In the meantime, we can of course continue building better and better contextual reputation models like we historically have. There is tremendous value in even the current state of the data, and there is no reason to stop.

However, while we do this, we should be sure to take into account 1) context, 2) relativity (a person should not have one reputation score, but many reputation scores based on the observer), and 3) environment (what outside factors have caused the person to take the actions they have taken?).

If we do not do this, we might end up in a worse place than we started.