Karma, the way it is used here, kills off some normal parts of human conversation, such as the making friends-by-agreeing and making mundane conversation part of socialization. From the perspective of a reader, though, those parts of conversation are very dull if I'm not the poster or respondee.
On the other hand, it encourages conformity. You "win" psychologically and karmically by saying things you know everyone will agree with, and you are rewarded with a tangible boost in your score. Granted, many of us try to upvote good arguments regardless, but there's a natural human tendency to regard opinions you disagree with as flawed.