Convo Inkis in the MarketingTech Industry

Convo Ink

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ERIK ADOLPH vs. Uber Court Filing, retrieved on July 17, 2023, is part of . You can jump to any part in this filing . This is part 8 of 15. HackerNoon’s Legal PDF Series here A. First, Uber contends that unless Adolph’s non-individual claims are dismissed, his PAGA action will run afoul of Viking River because he will be permitted to relitigate whether he is an aggrieved employee in court to establish standing even if he has agreed to resolve that issue in arbitration as part of his individual PAGA claim. In response, Adolph explains that his PAGA action could proceed in the following manner if he were ordered to arbitrate his individual PAGA claim: First, the trial court may exercise its discretion to stay the non-individual claims pending the outcome of the arbitration pursuant to section 1281.4 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Following the arbitrator’s decision, any party may petition the court to confirm or vacate the arbitration award under section 1285 of the Code of Civil Procedure. If the arbitrator determines that Adolph is an aggrieved employee in the process of adjudicating his individual PAGA claim, that determination, if confirmed and reduced to a final judgment (Code Civ. Proc., § 1287.4), would be binding on the court, and Adolph would continue to have standing to litigate his nonindividual claims. If the arbitrator determines that Adolph is not an aggrieved employee and the court confirms that determination and reduces it to a final judgment, the court would give effect to that finding, and Adolph could no longer prosecute his non-individual claims due to lack of standing. (See Rocha v. U-Haul Co. of California (2023) 88 Cal.App.5th 65, 76– 82.) Uber makes no convincing argument why this manner of proceeding would be impractical or would require relitigating Adolph’s status as an aggrieved employee in the context of his non-individual claims, and we see no basis for Uber’s concern. In any event, Viking River makes clear that in cases where the FAA applies, no such relitigation may occur. (Viking River, supra, 596 U.S. at pp. [142 S.Ct. at pp. 1923–1925].) – Continue Reading . Here About HackerNoon Legal PDF Series: We bring you the most important technical and insightful public domain court case filings. This court case S274671 retrieved on September 22, 2023, from is part of the public domain. The court-created documents are works of the federal government, and under copyright law, are automatically placed in the public domain and may be shared without legal restriction. courts.ca.gov

A Deeper Look At What Uber Is Claiming: Is It Convincing Enough?

Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc — Volume 1 by Mark Twain, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . Joan Convinces the King here Joan Convinces the King WELL, anything to make delay. The King’s council advised him against arriving at a decision in our matter too precipitately. He arrive at a decision too precipitately! So they sent a committee of priests—always priests—into Lorraine to inquire into Joan’s character and history—a matter which would consume several weeks, of course. You see how fastidious they were. It was as if people should come to put out the fire when a man’s house was burning down, and they waited till they could send into another country to find out if he had always kept the Sabbath or not, before letting him try. So the days poked along; dreary for us young people in some ways, but not in all, for we had one great anticipation in front of us; we had never seen a king, and now some day we should have that prodigious spectacle to see and to treasure in our memories all our lives; so we were on the lookout, and always eager and watching for the chance. The others were doomed to wait longer than I, as it turned out. One day great news came—the Orleans commissioners, with Yolande and our knights, had at last turned the council’s position and persuaded the King to see Joan. Joan received the immense news gratefully but without losing her head, but with us others it was otherwise; we could not eat or sleep or do any rational thing for the excitement and the glory of it. During two days our pair of noble knights were in distress and trepidation on Joan’s account, for the audience was to be at night, and they were afraid that Joan would be so paralyzed by the glare of light from the long files of torches, the solemn pomps and ceremonies, the great concourse of renowned personages, the brilliant costumes, and the other splendors of the Court, that she, a simple country-maid, and all unused to such things, would be overcome by these terrors and make a piteous failure. No doubt I could have comforted them, but I was not free to speak. Would Joan be disturbed by this cheap spectacle, this tinsel show, with its small King and his butterfly dukelets?—she who had spoken face to face with the princes of heaven, the familiars of God, and seen their retinue of angels stretching back into the remoteness of the sky, myriads upon myriads, like a measureless fan of light, a glory like the glory of the sun streaming from each of those innumerable heads, the massed radiance filling the deeps of space with a blinding splendor? I thought not. Queen Yolande wanted Joan to make the best possible impression upon the King and the Court, so she was strenuous to have her clothed in the richest stuffs, wrought upon the princeliest pattern, and set off with jewels; but in that she had to be disappointed, of course, Joan not being persuadable to it, but begging to be simply and sincerely dressed, as became a servant of God, and one sent upon a mission of a serious sort and grave political import. So then the gracious Queen imagined and contrived that simple and witching costume which I have described to you so many times, and which I cannot think of even now in my dull age without being moved just as rhythmical and exquisite music moves one; for that was music, that dress—that is what it was—music that one saw with the eyes and felt in the heart. Yes, she was a poem, she was a dream, she was a spirit when she was clothed in that. She kept that raiment always, and wore it several times upon occasions of state, and it is preserved to this day in the Treasury of Orleans, with two of her swords, and her banner, and other things now sacred because they had belonged to her. At the appointed time the Count of Vendome, a great lord of the court, came richly clothed, with his train of servants and assistants, to conduct Joan to the King, and the two knights and I went with her, being entitled to this privilege by reason of our official positions near her person. When we entered the great audience-hall, there it all was just as I have already painted it. Here were ranks of guards in shining armor and with polished halberds; two sides of the hall were like flower-gardens for variety of color and the magnificence of the costumes; light streamed upon these masses of color from two hundred and fifty flambeaux. There was a wide free space down the middle of the hall, and at the end of it was a throne royally canopied, and upon it sat a crowned and sceptered figure nobly clothed and blazing with jewels. It is true that Joan had been hindered and put off a good while, but now that she was admitted to an audience at last, she was received with honors granted to only the greatest personages. At the entrance door stood four heralds in a row, in splendid tabards, with long slender silver trumpets at their mouths, with square silken banners depending from them embroidered with the arms of France. As Joan and the Count passed by, these trumpets gave forth in unison one long rich note, and as we moved down the hall under the pictured and gilded vaulting, this was repeated at every fifty feet of our progress—six times in all. It made our good knights proud and happy, and they held themselves erect, and stiffened their stride, and looked fine and soldierly. They were not expecting this beautiful and honorable tribute to our little country-maid. Joan walked two yards behind the Count, we three walked two yards behind Joan. Our solemn march ended when we were as yet some eight or ten steps from the throne. The Count made a deep obeisance, pronounced Joan’s name, then bowed again and moved to his place among a group of officials near the throne. I was devouring the crowned personage with all my eyes, and my heart almost stood still with awe. The eyes of all others were fixed upon Joan in a gaze of wonder which was half worship, and which seemed to say, “How sweet—how lovely—how divine!” All lips were parted and motionless, which was a sure sign that those people, who seldom forget themselves, had forgotten themselves now, and were not conscious of anything but the one object they were gazing upon. They had the look of people who are under the enchantment of a vision. Then they presently began to come to life again, rousing themselves out of the spell and shaking it off as one drives away little by little a clinging drowsiness or intoxication. Now they fixed their attention upon Joan with a strong new interest of another sort; they were full of curiosity to see what she would do—they having a secret and particular reason for this curiosity. So they watched. This is what they saw: She made no obeisance, nor even any slight inclination of her head, but stood looking toward the throne in silence. That was all there was to see at present. I glanced up at De Metz, and was shocked at the paleness of his face. I whispered and said: “What is it, man, what is it?” His answering whisper was so weak I could hardly catch it: “They have taken advantage of the hint in her letter to play a trick upon her! She will err, and they will laugh at her. That is not the King that sits there.” Then I glanced at Joan. She was still gazing steadfastly toward the throne, and I had the curious fancy that even her shoulders and the back of her head expressed bewilderment. Now she turned her head slowly, and her eye wandered along the lines of standing courtiers till it fell upon a young man who was very quietly dressed; then her face lighted joyously, and she ran and threw herself at his feet, and clasped his knees, exclaiming in that soft melodious voice which was her birthright and was now charged with deep and tender feeling: “God of his grace give you long life, O dear and gentle Dauphin!” In his astonishment and exultation De Metz cried out: “By the shadow of God, it is an amazing thing!” Then he mashed all the bones of my hand in his grateful grip, and added, with a proud shake of his mane, “Now, what have these painted infidels to say!” Meantime the young person in the plain clothes was saying to Joan: “Ah, you mistake, my child, I am not the King. There he is,” and he pointed to the throne. The knight’s face clouded, and he muttered in grief and indignation: “Ah, it is a shame to use her so. But for this lie she had gone through safe. I will go and proclaim to all the house what—” “Stay where you are!” whispered I and the Sieur Bertrand in a breath, and made him stop in his place. Joan did not stir from her knees, but still lifted her happy face toward the King, and said: “No, gracious liege, you are he, and none other.” De Metz’s troubles vanished away, and he said: “Verily, she was not guessing, she knew. Now, how could she know? It is a miracle. I am content, and will meddle no more, for I perceive that she is equal to her occasions, having that in her head that cannot profitably be helped by the vacancy that is in mine.” This interruption of his lost me a remark or two of the other talk; however, I caught the King’s next question: “But tell me who you are, and what would you?” “I am called Joan the Maid, and am sent to say that the King of Heaven wills that you be crowned and consecrated in your good city of Rheims, and be thereafter Lieutenant of the Lord of Heaven, who is King of France. And He willeth also that you set me at my appointed work and give me men-at-arms.” After a slight pause she added, her eye lighting at the sound of her words, “For then will I raise the siege of Orleans and break the English power!” The young monarch’s amused face sobered a little when this martial speech fell upon that sick air like a breath blown from embattled camps and fields of war, and this trifling smile presently faded wholly away and disappeared. He was grave now, and thoughtful. After a little he waved his hand lightly, and all the people fell away and left those two by themselves in a vacant space. The knights and I moved to the opposite side of the hall and stood there. We saw Joan rise at a sign, then she and the King talked privately together. All that host had been consumed with curiosity to see what Joan would do. Well, they had seen, and now they were full of astonishment to see that she had really performed that strange miracle according to the promise in her letter; and they were fully as much astonished to find that she was not overcome by the pomps and splendors about her, but was even more tranquil and at her ease in holding speech with a monarch than ever they themselves had been, with all their practice and experience. As for our two knights, they were inflated beyond measure with pride in Joan, but nearly dumb, as to speech, they not being able to think out any way to account for her managing to carry herself through this imposing ordeal without ever a mistake or an awkwardness of any kind to mar the grace and credit of her great performance. The talk between Joan and the King was long and earnest, and held in low voices. We could not hear, but we had our eyes and could note effects; and presently we and all the house noted one effect which was memorable and striking, and has been set down in memoirs and histories and in testimony at the Process of Rehabilitation by some who witnessed it; for all knew it was big with meaning, though none knew what that meaning was at that time, of course. For suddenly we saw the King shake off his indolent attitude and straighten up like a man, and at the same time look immeasurably astonished. It was as if Joan had told him something almost too wonderful for belief, and yet of a most uplifting and welcome nature. It was long before we found out the secret of this conversation, but we know it now, and all the world knows it. That part of the talk was like this—as one may read in all histories. The perplexed King asked Joan for a sign. He wanted to believe in her and her mission, and that her Voices were supernatural and endowed with knowledge hidden from mortals, but how could he do this unless these Voices could prove their claim in some absolutely unassailable way? It was then that Joan said: “I will give you a sign, and you shall no more doubt. There is a secret trouble in your heart which you speak of to none—a doubt which wastes away your courage, and makes you dream of throwing all away and fleeing from your realm. Within this little while you have been praying, in your own breast, that God of his grace would resolve that doubt, even if the doing of it must show you that no kingly right is lodged in you.” It was that that amazed the King, for it was as she had said: his prayer was the secret of his own breast, and none but God could know about it. So he said: “The sign is sufficient. I know now that these Voices are of God. They have said true in this matter; if they have said more, tell it me—I will believe.” “They have resolved that doubt, and I bring their very words, which are these: Thou art lawful heir to the King thy father, and true heir of France. God has spoken it. Now lift up thy head, and doubt no more, but give me men-at-arms and let me get about my work.” Telling him he was of lawful birth was what straightened him up and made a man of him for a moment, removing his doubts upon that head and convincing him of his royal right; and if any could have hanged his hindering and pestiferous council and set him free, he would have answered Joan’s prayer and set her in the field. But no, those creatures were only checked, not checkmated; they could invent some more delays. We had been made proud by the honors which had so distinguished Joan’s entrance into that place—honors restricted to personages of very high rank and worth—but that pride was as nothing compared with the pride we had in the honor done her upon leaving it. For whereas those first honors were shown only to the great, these last, up to this time, had been shown only to the royal. The King himself led Joan by the hand down the great hall to the door, the glittering multitude standing and making reverence as they passed, and the silver trumpets sounding those rich notes of theirs. Then he dismissed her with gracious words, bending low over her hand and kissing it. Always—from all companies, high or low—she went forth richer in honor and esteem than when she came. And the King did another handsome thing by Joan, for he sent us back to Courdray Castle torch-lighted and in state, under escort of his own troop—his guard of honor—the only soldiers he had; and finely equipped and bedizened they were, too, though they hadn’t seen the color of their wages since they were children, as a body might say. The wonders which Joan had been performing before the King had been carried all around by this time, so the road was so packed with people who wanted to get a sight of her that we could hardly dig through; and as for talking together, we couldn’t, all attempts at talk being drowned in the storm of shoutings and huzzas that broke out all along as we passed, and kept abreast of us like a wave the whole way. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Mark Twain (2004). Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc — Volume 1. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2874/pg2874-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

Joan Convinces the King

Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book .  IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT IS CONVINCED THAT HE HAS AT LAST FOUND HIS IDEAL here CHAPTER II. IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT IS CONVINCED THAT HE HAS AT LAST FOUND HIS IDEAL “Faith,” muttered Passepartout, somewhat flurried, “I’ve seen people at Madame Tussaud’s as lively as my new master!” Madame Tussaud’s “people,” let it be said, are of wax, and are much visited in London; speech is all that is wanting to make them human. During his brief interview with Mr. Fogg, Passepartout had been carefully observing him. He appeared to be a man about forty years of age, with fine, handsome features, and a tall, well-shaped figure; his hair and whiskers were light, his forehead compact and unwrinkled, his face rather pale, his teeth magnificent. His countenance possessed in the highest degree what physiognomists call “repose in action,” a quality of those who act rather than talk. Calm and phlegmatic, with a clear eye, Mr. Fogg seemed a perfect type of that English composure which Angelica Kauffmann has so skilfully represented on canvas. Seen in the various phases of his daily life, he gave the idea of being perfectly well-balanced, as exactly regulated as a Leroy chronometer. Phileas Fogg was, indeed, exactitude personified, and this was betrayed even in the expression of his very hands and feet; for in men, as well as in animals, the limbs themselves are expressive of the passions. He was so exact that he was never in a hurry, was always ready, and was economical alike of his steps and his motions. He never took one step too many, and always went to his destination by the shortest cut; he made no superfluous gestures, and was never seen to be moved or agitated. He was the most deliberate person in the world, yet always reached his destination at the exact moment. He lived alone, and, so to speak, outside of every social relation; and as he knew that in this world account must be taken of friction, and that friction retards, he never rubbed against anybody. As for Passepartout, he was a true Parisian of Paris. Since he had abandoned his own country for England, taking service as a valet, he had in vain searched for a master after his own heart. Passepartout was by no means one of those pert dunces depicted by Molière with a bold gaze and a nose held high in the air; he was an honest fellow, with a pleasant face, lips a trifle protruding, soft-mannered and serviceable, with a good round head, such as one likes to see on the shoulders of a friend. His eyes were blue, his complexion rubicund, his figure almost portly and well-built, his body muscular, and his physical powers fully developed by the exercises of his younger days. His brown hair was somewhat tumbled; for, while the ancient sculptors are said to have known eighteen methods of arranging Minerva’s tresses, Passepartout was familiar with but one of dressing his own: three strokes of a large-tooth comb completed his toilet. It would be rash to predict how Passepartout’s lively nature would agree with Mr. Fogg. It was impossible to tell whether the new servant would turn out as absolutely methodical as his master required; experience alone could solve the question. Passepartout had been a sort of vagrant in his early years, and now yearned for repose; but so far he had failed to find it, though he had already served in ten English houses. But he could not take root in any of these; with chagrin, he found his masters invariably whimsical and irregular, constantly running about the country, or on the look-out for adventure. His last master, young Lord Longferry, Member of Parliament, after passing his nights in the Haymarket taverns, was too often brought home in the morning on policemen’s shoulders. Passepartout, desirous of respecting the gentleman whom he served, ventured a mild remonstrance on such conduct; which, being ill-received, he took his leave. Hearing that Mr. Phileas Fogg was looking for a servant, and that his life was one of unbroken regularity, that he neither travelled nor stayed from home overnight, he felt sure that this would be the place he was after. He presented himself, and was accepted, as has been seen. At half-past eleven, then, Passepartout found himself alone in the house in Saville Row. He began its inspection without delay, scouring it from cellar to garret. So clean, well-arranged, solemn a mansion pleased him; it seemed to him like a snail’s shell, lighted and warmed by gas, which sufficed for both these purposes. When Passepartout reached the second story he recognised at once the room which he was to inhabit, and he was well satisfied with it. Electric bells and speaking-tubes afforded communication with the lower stories; while on the mantel stood an electric clock, precisely like that in Mr. Fogg’s bedchamber, both beating the same second at the same instant. “That’s good, that’ll do,” said Passepartout to himself. He suddenly observed, hung over the clock, a card which, upon inspection, proved to be a programme of the daily routine of the house. It comprised all that was required of the servant, from eight in the morning, exactly at which hour Phileas Fogg rose, till half-past eleven, when he left the house for the Reform Club—all the details of service, the tea and toast at twenty-three minutes past eight, the shaving-water at thirty-seven minutes past nine, and the toilet at twenty minutes before ten. Everything was regulated and foreseen that was to be done from half-past eleven a.m. till midnight, the hour at which the methodical gentleman retired. Mr. Fogg’s wardrobe was amply supplied and in the best taste. Each pair of trousers, coat, and vest bore a number, indicating the time of year and season at which they were in turn to be laid out for wearing; and the same system was applied to the master’s shoes. In short, the house in Saville Row, which must have been a very temple of disorder and unrest under the illustrious but dissipated Sheridan, was cosiness, comfort, and method idealised. There was no study, nor were there books, which would have been quite useless to Mr. Fogg; for at the Reform two libraries, one of general literature and the other of law and politics, were at his service. A moderate-sized safe stood in his bedroom, constructed so as to defy fire as well as burglars; but Passepartout found neither arms nor hunting weapons anywhere; everything betrayed the most tranquil and peaceable habits. Having scrutinised the house from top to bottom, he rubbed his hands, a broad smile overspread his features, and he said joyfully, “This is just what I wanted! Ah, we shall get on together, Mr. Fogg and I! What a domestic and regular gentleman! A real machine; well, I don’t mind serving a machine.” About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Jules Verne (1994). Around the World in Eighty Days. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/files/103/103-h/103-h.htm This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT IS CONVINCED THAT HE HAS AT LAST FOUND HIS IDEAL

As you probably know, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher. When you read his name in the title of this article, you may have had two initial reactions. The first is probably that it brought back bad memories of your high school years when the educational system forced you to study the works of this philosopher. As you've gotten older, you may have changed your mind, but generally speaking, most high-school students hate these philosophy courses forced upon them. The second reaction is “WTF?!?” ... What does Friedrich Nietzsche have to do with Bitcoin? It may seem surprising at first glance, but if you make an effort to read on, you'll see that Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy comes very close to what the Bitcoin revolution has been facing since its inception. So here are 8 famous quotes from Friedrich Nietzsche to relate to Bitcoin and its unique monetary revolution. “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” Satoshi Nakamoto invented (or discovered, as the case may be) Bitcoin in 2008. He officially launched the Bitcoin network on January 3, 2009. Since then, Bitcoin, and above all its ecosystem, has experienced a whole host of difficulties, hazards, and attacks. Some thought that Bitcoin would die after these events. However, Bitcoin has shown itself to be anti-fragile, returning stronger each time like a phoenix. This is reminiscent of Friedrich Nietzsche's quote, which shows that building in difficulty makes you stronger. So everything that hasn't killed Bitcoin since its inception has only strengthened it, to the point where today Bitcoin is becoming a must-have even for global financial giants such as BlackRock and Fidelity, who want to launch their own Bitcoin ETF based on the spot market. “Sometimes people don't want to hear the truth because they don't want their illusions destroyed.” This quote from Friedrich Nietzsche is so apropos when you think of all those who refuse to study Bitcoin to understand its why. These people are directly opposed to Bitcoin without even studying it, for one obvious reason: Bitcoin is unlike anything you know and challenges everything the education system has taught you since childhood. That's why it's so hard to wake up to Bitcoin for the majority of the general public. Nobody wants to see all their illusions destroyed. The illusion that the current monetary and financial system can help you live a happy life on your terms. However, this is impossible. But to realize it, you'll have to go beyond the destruction of illusions to discover the inconvenient truth that will enable you to access the liberating power of the Bitcoin revolution. “Silence is worse; all truths that are kept silent become poisonous.” How does the banking system work? How does today's monetary and financial system work? Why are CBDCs an abomination to our privacy? So many questions that the powers that be in today's monetary and financial system don't want to answer. They prefer silence. A horrible, destructive silence. To open your eyes to the why of Bitcoin, you'll have to be willing to hear all the truths, or they'll become a poison that will slowly but inevitably destroy the fruits of your labor over time. “We often contradict an opinion for no other reason than that we do not like the tone in which it is expressed.” This quote from Friedrich Nietzsche is particularly relevant to me, because, in the end, it's essential to present Bitcoin properly to the general public, so that as many people as possible have the desire to study the why behind Bitcoin and form their own opinions. How you present your opinions has a major influence on the reaction of your interlocutors and readers. That's why I keep telling everyone that everyone has to make up their mind about Bitcoin. I don't want to be like those Bitcoiners who judge those who choose another option. As I keep telling you, we each have to make our own choices according to our profile and our goals in life. Let's not judge others, it's pointless. Let's present facts, ideas, and opinions, and let everyone make up their minds about the Bitcoin revolution. This approach led me to write his second book “ ”: The Truth About Bitcoin My goal is to stay true to the founding idea of Bitcoin: “Don't Trust, Verify”. Don't take my word for it. Don't take the influencers' word for it. Make up your mind and act with a clear conscience. That goes for Bitcoin and everything in your life. In short, take the power. “Truth tends to reveal its highest wisdom in the guise of simplicity.” There's nothing like simplicity to present the why of Bitcoin, because as Friedrich Nietzsche said, “ ”. Truth tends to reveal its highest wisdom in the guise of simplicity When talking about Bitcoin, keep it simple by going back to its why, and the objectives of this unique monetary revolution. Bitcoin is all about giving you back the power over your money, freeing you from all those useless middlemen who gorge themselves on your back. That's also why I'm trying to warn people about the arrival of BlackRock or Fidelity in the world of Bitcoin. For me, this is not good news, as I explain here: " " The Euphoria of Some So-called Bitcoiners Over BlackRock and Fidelity’s Bitcoin Spot ETFs Should Give You Some Clarity “Disobedience — that is the nobility of slaves.” The debt-based fiat system enslaves you. I often talk to you about this idea, which for me is the truth. It's my truth, and I think more and more people are realizing it for themselves as the years go by. The greatest nobility of slaves is precisely to disobey their masters. In the case of the current monetary and financial system, disobedience means finding an alternative to break free. That's where Bitcoin comes in, giving you the chance to reverse the balance of power between master and slave. After all, the debt-based fiat system has so much power because we slaves agree to give the masters all that power. With Bitcoin, you can take the power away from the masters. It's up to you. “The free man is a warrior.” Bitcoin helps you become free. Bitcoin is synonymous with freedom. If you've been a Bitcoiner long enough, you're probably a warrior. Someone who defends opinions and convictions against all odds to become a free man. The big uncertainty for me is more to do with this philosophical question: does Bitcoin turn you into a warrior and a free man in fine? Or were you already a warrior deep down inside, and has Bitcoin helped to reveal this in you by giving you the means to become a free man? “No power can maintain itself if only hypocrites represent it.” This last quote from Friedrich Nietzsche that I wanted to highlight here is a sign of hope for the future of the Bitcoin revolution. For Friedrich Nietzsche, it was obvious that no power could be able to maintain in power if it was only represented by hypocrites. When we speak of hypocrites within the current monetary and financial system, I think you already have a long list that comes to mind. From governments to central bankers to economists to the mainstream media, I think you've all got your favorite hypocrites who seek to protect this flawed system at all costs. Fortunately, the truth always comes out in the end. If you believe, as I do, that Bitcoin responds to the flaws of the current system in a unique way, you'll be convinced that the hypocrisy of the current system will eventually cause its downfall. It's only a matter of time. That's why I keep telling you that Bitcoin is all about patience. Also published here .

8 Quotes From Friedrich Nietzsche That Will Convince You of the Future Success of Bitcoin

I've done my best to gather evidence into a cohesive argument toward my campaign for more doughnuts. I doughnut think you'll be fully convinced until you're gotten a round to reading the hole article. There I said it - no need to sugarcoat it! Smells Like Team Spirit: The Role of Dopamine Doughnuts, particularly the aroma of freshly baked ones, have a powerful impact on the brain. The presence of these delectable treats triggers the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure, motivation, and reward. A study conducted at the University of Toronto found that when individuals were exposed to pleasant food aromas, their motivation and productivity significantly increased. Source: (University of Toronto, 2018) Brain Food: Boosting Cognitive Abilities The primary ingredient in doughnuts, sugar, provides a quick burst of energy to the brain. Consuming moderate amounts of sugar can enhance cognitive function, improving focus, memory, and problem-solving abilities. A study published in the Journal of Nutrition discovered that participants who consumed a glucose-rich drink demonstrated increased performance in memory tasks. Source: (Greeley et al., Journal of Nutrition, 2009) Sharing the Success: A Team-Building Exercise That We Actually Want Providing fresh doughnuts not only benefits individual developers but also fosters a sense of camaraderie within teams. The act of sharing doughnuts encourages informal interactions and socialization among colleagues, leading to improved communication, collaboration, and team cohesion. Research from Cornell University shows that team-building activities contribute positively to employee satisfaction and overall team performance. Source: (Cornell University, 2016) Break Free: Doughnuts as a Catalyst Taking regular breaks during work hours has been proven to enhance productivity and creativity. Doughnut breaks offer developers a guilt-free opportunity to step away from their screens, relax, and recharge. By temporarily shifting their focus to something enjoyable, such as savoring a delicious doughnut, developers can reduce mental fatigue and return to their tasks with renewed energy and fresh perspectives. Source: (Toker et al., Journal of Applied Psychology, 2015) The Last Doughnut: Seriously Reaching for Ways to Retain Top Talent In a highly competitive job market, attracting and retaining talented developers is essential for any organization's success. Offering fresh doughnuts as a regular perk can significantly contribute to employee satisfaction and loyalty. Research conducted by Harvard Business Review found that companies that prioritize employee well-being and provide enjoyable benefits experience reduced turnover rates and increased employee engagement. Source: (Harvard Business Review, 2019) Conclusion While the importance of technical skills and a supportive work environment cannot be understated, it is equally vital for companies to recognize the value of providing fresh doughnuts to developers. The scientific studies and credible sources discussed in this article demonstrate the numerous benefits of doughnut consumption on developer productivity, motivation, team dynamics, and overall employee satisfaction. By understanding and harnessing the power of doughnuts, organizations can create an environment that fosters creativity, collaboration, and high-performance development teams.

Quotable Sources to Convince Your Boss to Buy More Office Doughnuts

Identifying Axion Conversion in Compact Star Magnetospheres With Radio-Wave Polarization Signatures

Fortify Your Digital Defenses: Top Home Cybersecurity Strategies for Personal Protection

Do you want to learn how to turbocharge your email marketing to generate more sales and boost engagement? If so, buckle up because today, I'm going to discuss product upsell emails and how they can help you grow. First things first, let's define the term product upsell email. The easiest way to describe it is an email that encourages your subscribers to upgrade or purchase an additional product or service. It's very similar to a friendly in-store sales associate gently nudging you toward an irresistible deal that perfectly complements your initial purchase. Now, I'll cover a few real-world examples to illustrate how upselling can help brands across all industries: Example 1: You just bought a brand new set of pots and pans for your kitchen. A few days later, you receive an email from them suggesting you add a set of premium utensils and a cookbook so you can get the most from your new purchase. Example 2: You recently invested in a lead generation tool and have been eyeing its advanced analytics and automation features. Suddenly, an email lands in your inbox offering you an exclusive discount if you add a new feature ala carte. In these situations, upsell emails are a win-win for consumers and businesses— they enhance their purchase and enjoy additional value while the brand boosts its sales and customer satisfaction. It's a beautiful thing! Now that you understand the concept, let's dive into six proven types of product upsell emails that can work wonders for your business. Mention Their Purchase History I would argue that creating upsell emails that are tailored to each customer's unique purchase history is one of the most effective types of upsell emails. This is because, by taking this step, you're making each message incredibly effective, relevant, and personalized. You might be interested to know that the data backs me up. Here are a few statistics worth knowing if you're contemplating using email personalization: 80% of shoppers claim they're more likely to engage with a brand that personalizes offers and content.
Over 77% of all email interactions and sales are connected to personalized messages and promotions.
On average, personalized calls-to-action (CTAs) result in 42% more sales. Now that you know the benefits, it's time to start personalizing. My advice is to ask new email subscribers to tell you about themselves in your welcome email. We include a brief survey where we ask people to tell us about their goals and how we can help. Believe it or not, a couple of questions can provide you with a ton of knowledge that you can use to craft personalized emails. Once a subscriber places an order, you'll have even more information to use in your messages. Promote a Flash Sale Flash sales are the ultimate way to create a sense of urgency and spark fear of missing out (FOMO). Combine this sense of urgency with an irresistible upsell offer, and you've got a potent recipe for boosting sales and customer engagement. There are many different ways to benefit from flash sales in your email marketing. When talking strictly about upsells, it's not uncommon to see companies offer limited-time bundles. For example, a gardening website could bundle a build-it-yourself trellis, gardening tools, and a variety pack of vegetable seeds. This simple strategy lets you offer customers a package of complementary products at a heavily discounted price. It's a great way to introduce people to what you sell for the first time and a powerful way to encourage repeat purchases. There is one more thing worth mentioning about flash sales: Make sure you leave some distance between sales so customers are consistently excited. We found that 60% of shoppers say FOMO has led to them making a reactive purchase. You don't want to dampen this marketing magic by hosting sales too often. Offer an Upgrade If you're in the business of selling services or software, upgrade upsells are a powerful way to build brand loyalty and increase sales. At face value, the premise is simple: present your customers with multiple pricing tiers, each offering additional features and functionality. The goal is to give people the freedom and flexibility to choose the plan that suits their needs. People decided to "cut the cord" with cable because they were forced to pay for things they didn't use. The same idea applies to software companies. With this strategy, you can get more upsells by letting customers change early—if they decide to upgrade to a better plan. My advice is to send an email with this offer at a discounted price, and you'll see plenty of people upgrade to get features that add more value to your product. Software companies are masters of this strategy, often convincing existing customers to upgrade to a premium plan with more templates, design options, or advanced tools. When you're crafting your upgrade upsell emails, be sure to clearly outline the benefits of each tier. This will reduce friction and result in more conversions. Encourage Referral Upsells Referral upsells are a brilliant way to attract new customers to your business while keeping your current customers engaged and rewarded. Here's how it works: Reach out to existing customers, ask them to tell others, and share a special referral link with friends, family, or co-workers to spread the word about your product or service. It's not unlike affiliate marketing, with the big difference being that this is targeted more toward people who know each other than an influencer connecting with their audience. As an incentive, you can offer the referring customer an exclusive discount or upgrade on their order if a certain number of people sign up using their unique link. Odds are, if they like your product enough to promote it as it is, they'll be even more eager after the upgrade. In my experience, this is a win-win scenario: you gain new customers, and your loyal fans are rewarded for engaging with your business. Reward Customer Loyalty Speaking of loyal fans, rewarding your most dedicated customers is a surefire way to boost retention and your average customer lifetime value. One of the best and most effective ways to do this is by creating a loyalty program, where customers earn points or store credit with every purchase that they can redeem for discounts or upgrades. However, it's common for shoppers to forget about their accumulated points. That's where customer loyalty upsell emails come into play. A simple reminder that they still have points and a suggestion for how they could spend those points could easily turn into a sale. With that in mind, I suggest reaching out to your brand loyalists and reminding them of their point balances after a certain time period. For instance, you can automate a three-month reminder email whenever someone earns enough points to redeem. and Stop Cart Abandonment with Upsells Finally, let's talk about shopping cart abandonment. There's no question that cart abandonment is a headache for online retailers, resulting in a staggering $4.6 trillion in lost sales each year. Ouch! But fear not. Abandoned cart emails will help you recapture lost sales and re-engage with customers who left without completing their purchase. We found that almost half of all abandonment emails are opened, so this is a great opportunity to reconnect. Interestingly enough, we found that it's possible to maximize the effectiveness of these emails by including an upsell offer based on the products the customer was considering. For example, if they abandoned a single item in their cart, you could offer a discounted bundle containing that product and complementary items they might find useful. If the price you're offering them for both is less or equal to the cost of the one thing they wanted, there's a very good chance they'll take action. Conclusion In conclusion, product upsell emails can be a powerful tool to boost sales and customer engagement. By tailoring your upsells to customer purchase history and using tactics like flash sales and loyalty programs, you can create win-win scenarios that benefit both your business and your customers. My best piece of advice is to be patient. You probably won't see results overnight. But if you're persistent and consistent, upsell emails are an excellent way to grow your business. Do you want to learn how to turbocharge your email marketing to generate more sales and boost engagement? If so, buckle up because today, I'm going to discuss product upsell emails and how they can help you grow. First things first, let's define the term product upsell email. The easiest way to describe it is an email that encourages your subscribers to upgrade or purchase an additional product or service. It's very similar to a friendly in-store sales associate gently nudging you toward an irresistible deal that perfectly complements your initial purchase. Now, I'll cover a few real-world examples to illustrate how upselling can help brands across all industries: Example 1: You just bought a brand new set of pots and pans for your kitchen. A few days later, you receive an email from them suggesting you add a set of premium utensils and a cookbook so you can get the most from your new purchase. Example 1: You just bought a brand new set of pots and pans for your kitchen. A few days later, you receive an email from them suggesting you add a set of premium utensils and a cookbook so you can get the most from your new purchase. Example 2: You recently invested in a lead generation tool and have been eyeing its advanced analytics and automation features. Suddenly, an email lands in your inbox offering you an exclusive discount if you add a new feature ala carte. Example 2: You recently invested in a lead generation tool and have been eyeing its advanced analytics and automation features. Suddenly, an email lands in your inbox offering you an exclusive discount if you add a new feature ala carte. In these situations, upsell emails are a win-win for consumers and businesses— they enhance their purchase and enjoy additional value while the brand boosts its sales and customer satisfaction. It's a beautiful thing! Now that you understand the concept, let's dive into six proven types of product upsell emails that can work wonders for your business. Mention Their Purchase History I would argue that creating upsell emails that are tailored to each customer's unique purchase history is one of the most effective types of upsell emails. This is because, by taking this step, you're making each message incredibly effective, relevant, and personalized. You might be interested to know that the data backs me up. Here are a few statistics worth knowing if you're contemplating using email personalization: 80% of shoppers claim they're more likely to engage with a brand that personalizes offers and content. Over 77% of all email interactions and sales are connected to personalized messages and promotions. On average, personalized calls-to-action (CTAs) result in 42% more sales. 80% of shoppers claim they're more likely to engage with a brand that personalizes offers and content. 80% Over 77% of all email interactions and sales are connected to personalized messages and promotions. 77% On average, personalized calls-to-action (CTAs) result in 42% more sales. 42% Now that you know the benefits, it's time to start personalizing. My advice is to ask new email subscribers to tell you about themselves in your welcome email. We include a brief survey where we ask people to tell us about their goals and how we can help. Believe it or not, a couple of questions can provide you with a ton of knowledge that you can use to craft personalized emails. Once a subscriber places an order, you'll have even more information to use in your messages. Promote a Flash Sale Flash sales are the ultimate way to create a sense of urgency and spark fear of missing out ( FOMO ). Combine this sense of urgency with an irresistible upsell offer, and you've got a potent recipe for boosting sales and customer engagement. FOMO There are many different ways to benefit from flash sales in your email marketing. When talking strictly about upsells, it's not uncommon to see companies offer limited-time bundles. For example, a gardening website could bundle a build-it-yourself trellis, gardening tools, and a variety pack of vegetable seeds. This simple strategy lets you offer customers a package of complementary products at a heavily discounted price. It's a great way to introduce people to what you sell for the first time and a powerful way to encourage repeat purchases . encourage repeat purchases There is one more thing worth mentioning about flash sales: Make sure you leave some distance between sales so customers are consistently excited. We found that 60% of shoppers say FOMO has led to them making a reactive purchase. You don't want to dampen this marketing magic by hosting sales too often. 60% Offer an Upgrade If you're in the business of selling services or software, upgrade upsells are a powerful way to build brand loyalty and increase sales. At face value, the premise is simple: present your customers with multiple pricing tiers , each offering additional features and functionality. multiple pricing tiers The goal is to give people the freedom and flexibility to choose the plan that suits their needs. People decided to "cut the cord" with cable because they were forced to pay for things they didn't use. The same idea applies to software companies. With this strategy, you can get more upsells by letting customers change early—if they decide to upgrade to a better plan. My advice is to send an email with this offer at a discounted price, and you'll see plenty of people upgrade to get features that add more value to your product. Software companies are masters of this strategy, often convincing existing customers to upgrade to a premium plan with more templates, design options, or advanced tools. When you're crafting your upgrade upsell emails, be sure to clearly outline the benefits of each tier. This will reduce friction and result in more conversions. Encourage Referral Upsells Referral upsells are a brilliant way to attract new customers to your business while keeping your current customers engaged and rewarded. Here's how it works: Reach out to existing customers, ask them to tell others, and share a special referral link with friends, family, or co-workers to spread the word about your product or service. It's not unlike affiliate marketing , with the big difference being that this is targeted more toward people who know each other than an influencer connecting with their audience. affiliate marketing As an incentive, you can offer the referring customer an exclusive discount or upgrade on their order if a certain number of people sign up using their unique link. Odds are, if they like your product enough to promote it as it is, they'll be even more eager after the upgrade. In my experience, this is a win-win scenario: you gain new customers, and your loyal fans are rewarded for engaging with your business. Reward Customer Loyalty Speaking of loyal fans, rewarding your most dedicated customers is a surefire way to boost retention and your average customer lifetime value. One of the best and most effective ways to do this is by creating a loyalty program , where customers earn points or store credit with every purchase that they can redeem for discounts or upgrades. loyalty program However, it's common for shoppers to forget about their accumulated points. That's where customer loyalty upsell emails come into play. A simple reminder that they still have points and a suggestion for how they could spend those points could easily turn into a sale. With that in mind, I suggest reaching out to your brand loyalists and reminding them of their point balances after a certain time period. For instance, you can automate a three-month reminder email whenever someone earns enough points to redeem. and Stop Cart Abandonment with Upsells Finally, let's talk about shopping cart abandonment. There's no question that cart abandonment is a headache for online retailers, resulting in a staggering $4.6 trillion in lost sales each year. Ouch! But fear not. Abandoned cart emails will help you recapture lost sales and re-engage with customers who left without completing their purchase. We found that almost half of all abandonment emails are opened, so this is a great opportunity to reconnect. almost half Interestingly enough, we found that it's possible to maximize the effectiveness of these emails by including an upsell offer based on the products the customer was considering. For example, if they abandoned a single item in their cart, you could offer a discounted bundle containing that product and complementary items they might find useful. If the price you're offering them for both is less or equal to the cost of the one thing they wanted, there's a very good chance they'll take action. Conclusion In conclusion, product upsell emails can be a powerful tool to boost sales and customer engagement. By tailoring your upsells to customer purchase history and using tactics like flash sales and loyalty programs, you can create win-win scenarios that benefit both your business and your customers. My best piece of advice is to be patient. You probably won't see results overnight. But if you're persistent and consistent, upsell emails are an excellent way to grow your business.

6 Product Upsell Email Ideas That Work

Authors:
(1) Eilidh Jack, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ (eilidh.jack@glasgow.ac.uk);
(2) Craig Alexander, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ (craig.alexander.2@glasgow.ac.uk);
(3) Elinor Jones, Department of Statistical Science, University College London, London, WC1E 7HB (elinor.jones@ucl.ac.uk). Table of Links Abstract and Introduction
Course information
Motivation and intervention
Findings
Discussion
Conclusion and References 5 Discussion The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a gamification element in a mathematical sciences course taught in flipped format. The study compared levels of engagement with pre-lecture quizzes before and after the gamification intervention was introduced. Comparisons were made across semesters (different courses, same students) and across academic years (same course, different students). Our study found that in both cases the level of engagement (measured by average percentage of students completing pre-lecture quizzes prior to the associated in-person sessions) was significantly higher when compared to a course where Level Up! was not implemented. Although engagement levels did drop over the course of each semester, they remained substantially higher for each week when compared to the previous semester or year. These results provide convincing evidence that introducing a gamification element to a course taught in flipped format increases students motivation and engagement to complete work outside of scheduled class time. When comparing engagement levels within students between two semesters, we found a general increase in engagement across both semesters but more interestingly found that some students with very low engagement levels in semester 1 went on the have some of the highest engagement levels in semester 2. For these students it seems that the gamification element drastically improved their motivation and engagement levels and is evidence that including a gamification element to a course may encourage engagement from students who would otherwise not engage. Our results also found that this increase in engagement could lead to an increase in performance with 82% of students receiving a grade of A, B or C in the semester 1 course of 2023-24 compared to 60% in 2022-23. Although we cannot say for sure what led to this increase in achievement and there are many factors which could influence this (such as cohort effect, different exam paper, etc.), an increase in engagement throughout a semester is compatible with an increase in performance since students are more likely to be distributing their learning over the course of a semester. This is especially beneficial for mathematical sciences courses where learning is often thought of as linear with each topic building on the previous one and poor understanding of early material can have a detrimental effect later in the course [Ireland and Mouthaan, 2020]. This study focuses on Year 1 undergraduate students who typically fall into a post-secondary education age range. The transition to university for students can be overwhelming, with changes in teaching delivery, workload and cognitive demands ([Blair, 2017]). Our results show that gamification can improve the learning experience, which may help with this transition, in line with observations by [Zaric et al., 2017]. This being said, [Kim and Castelli, 2021] looked at the effects of gamification across three age cohorts and found that university level participants found the least significant results in terms of positive interaction when compared to secondary school and adult learners, indicating that younger and older learners may have more interest in gamified factors. Currently, gamification is only present within the Year 1 modules of the undergraduate programme, and is not implemented within other modules on the programme. There is scope to explore the effects of gamification on a more mature cohort to observe if we see similar patterns of engagement. This study has considered student engagement levels in terms of completing pre-lecture quizzes, though it is important to note that we see meaningful engagement instead of cases where students are simply trying to ‘game’ the leaderboard. Our results are based solely on participation on formative reading quizzes where participation is identified through criteria being met, as this material was found to show that genuine participation took place. There are other activities in the course, such as textbook readings, which simply require a manual completion indicator and could be exposed to non-meaningful engagement. We feel that a reasonable performance on the quizzes indicates engagement with the other activities available (or indeed, of students independently finding their own resources for study). The results presented here are for a self-selected subset of students. However, course instructors were able to view results for the entire cohort of students to inform their future decision making on the learning and teaching approach for this course and others. The results presented here were found to be similar to the results for the entire cohort and the general conclusions made would not change if data on the entire cohort of students were considered. Although studies in gamification have reflected positive outcomes in terms of increased motivation and engagement in tasks, this teaching strategy has potential downsides. Effects such as increased competition between students ([Hakulinen et al., 2013]) and task evaluation difficulties, where certain tasks may not be suitable for a game based element or may have ways of being marked as complete without proper engagement in the learning materials ([Domínguez et al., 2013]) may become issues. The design of game based elements within a course must also be considered with a balance of reward and level of work and engagement required. Tasks which are overly complex can lead to a lack of engagement from learners ([Dong et al., 2012]). There is also potential for demotivation through the full gamification process, particulaly if students find themselves placed low on the points leaderboard. The competency levels of students may lead to negative consequences, including frustration and loss of self confidence ([Alomari et al., 2019]). A study by [Ding et al., 2018] showed that some students in a gamified learning activity may require more time to obtain the necessary understanding to progress through learning process. Engagement in gamification not only requires active participation from students, but time and attention from staff to implement the system effectively. From our experience using Level Up!, it takes time to set up the system. Several considerations have to be made at the set-up stage, including the allocation of experience points to certain tasks, and allocating points in such a way as to reflect the level of engagement required from the student. Levels were attainable for students which were split by weekly tasks, which requires manual intervention to tally the available points over a given week. For example, students could receive half points for completing certain tasks after a deadline which requires manual intervention from the course lecturer to reset the points awarded to a different total after each deadline. Though our study explored gamification using Level Up!, there are a host of other plug-ins which can be adapted in virtual learning environments such as Quizventure[4] and Block Game[5]. [Heilbrunn et al., 2017] provide a detailed review of tools for gamification analytics. Finally, we highlight the importance of using learning analytics, where possible, to access data from students on a course when measuring the success of a new teaching method or intervention. If the instructors of the two courses under consideration here had relied on feedback from students to inform teaching strategy - which was consistently positive even before the implementation of Level Up! - the true extent of the lack of engagement in the pre-lecture materials may never have been identified. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. [4] https://github.com/xow/moodle-mod_quizgame [5] https://moodle.org/plugins/block_game Authors: (1) Eilidh Jack, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ (eilidh.jack@glasgow.ac.uk); (2) Craig Alexander, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ (craig.alexander.2@glasgow.ac.uk); (3) Elinor Jones, Department of Statistical Science, University College London, London, WC1E 7HB (elinor.jones@ucl.ac.uk). Authors: Authors: (1) Eilidh Jack, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ (eilidh.jack@glasgow.ac.uk); (2) Craig Alexander, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ (craig.alexander.2@glasgow.ac.uk); (3) Elinor Jones, Department of Statistical Science, University College London, London, WC1E 7HB (elinor.jones@ucl.ac.uk). Table of Links Abstract and Introduction Course information Motivation and intervention Findings Discussion Conclusion and References Abstract and Introduction Abstract and Introduction Course information Course information Motivation and intervention Motivation and intervention Findings Findings Discussion Discussion Conclusion and References Conclusion and References 5 Discussion The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a gamification element in a mathematical sciences course taught in flipped format. The study compared levels of engagement with pre-lecture quizzes before and after the gamification intervention was introduced. Comparisons were made across semesters (different courses, same students) and across academic years (same course, different students). Our study found that in both cases the level of engagement (measured by average percentage of students completing pre-lecture quizzes prior to the associated in-person sessions) was significantly higher when compared to a course where Level Up! was not implemented. Although engagement levels did drop over the course of each semester, they remained substantially higher for each week when compared to the previous semester or year. These results provide convincing evidence that introducing a gamification element to a course taught in flipped format increases students motivation and engagement to complete work outside of scheduled class time. When comparing engagement levels within students between two semesters, we found a general increase in engagement across both semesters but more interestingly found that some students with very low engagement levels in semester 1 went on the have some of the highest engagement levels in semester 2. For these students it seems that the gamification element drastically improved their motivation and engagement levels and is evidence that including a gamification element to a course may encourage engagement from students who would otherwise not engage. Our results also found that this increase in engagement could lead to an increase in performance with 82% of students receiving a grade of A, B or C in the semester 1 course of 2023-24 compared to 60% in 2022-23. Although we cannot say for sure what led to this increase in achievement and there are many factors which could influence this (such as cohort effect, different exam paper, etc.), an increase in engagement throughout a semester is compatible with an increase in performance since students are more likely to be distributing their learning over the course of a semester. This is especially beneficial for mathematical sciences courses where learning is often thought of as linear with each topic building on the previous one and poor understanding of early material can have a detrimental effect later in the course [Ireland and Mouthaan, 2020]. This study focuses on Year 1 undergraduate students who typically fall into a post-secondary education age range. The transition to university for students can be overwhelming, with changes in teaching delivery, workload and cognitive demands ([Blair, 2017]). Our results show that gamification can improve the learning experience, which may help with this transition, in line with observations by [Zaric et al., 2017]. This being said, [Kim and Castelli, 2021] looked at the effects of gamification across three age cohorts and found that university level participants found the least significant results in terms of positive interaction when compared to secondary school and adult learners, indicating that younger and older learners may have more interest in gamified factors. Currently, gamification is only present within the Year 1 modules of the undergraduate programme, and is not implemented within other modules on the programme. There is scope to explore the effects of gamification on a more mature cohort to observe if we see similar patterns of engagement. This study has considered student engagement levels in terms of completing pre-lecture quizzes, though it is important to note that we see meaningful engagement instead of cases where students are simply trying to ‘game’ the leaderboard. Our results are based solely on participation on formative reading quizzes where participation is identified through criteria being met, as this material was found to show that genuine participation took place. There are other activities in the course, such as textbook readings, which simply require a manual completion indicator and could be exposed to non-meaningful engagement. We feel that a reasonable performance on the quizzes indicates engagement with the other activities available (or indeed, of students independently finding their own resources for study). The results presented here are for a self-selected subset of students. However, course instructors were able to view results for the entire cohort of students to inform their future decision making on the learning and teaching approach for this course and others. The results presented here were found to be similar to the results for the entire cohort and the general conclusions made would not change if data on the entire cohort of students were considered. Although studies in gamification have reflected positive outcomes in terms of increased motivation and engagement in tasks, this teaching strategy has potential downsides. Effects such as increased competition between students ([Hakulinen et al., 2013]) and task evaluation difficulties, where certain tasks may not be suitable for a game based element or may have ways of being marked as complete without proper engagement in the learning materials ([Domínguez et al., 2013]) may become issues. The design of game based elements within a course must also be considered with a balance of reward and level of work and engagement required. Tasks which are overly complex can lead to a lack of engagement from learners ([Dong et al., 2012]). There is also potential for demotivation through the full gamification process, particulaly if students find themselves placed low on the points leaderboard. The competency levels of students may lead to negative consequences, including frustration and loss of self confidence ([Alomari et al., 2019]). A study by [Ding et al., 2018] showed that some students in a gamified learning activity may require more time to obtain the necessary understanding to progress through learning process. Engagement in gamification not only requires active participation from students, but time and attention from staff to implement the system effectively. From our experience using Level Up!, it takes time to set up the system. Several considerations have to be made at the set-up stage, including the allocation of experience points to certain tasks, and allocating points in such a way as to reflect the level of engagement required from the student. Levels were attainable for students which were split by weekly tasks, which requires manual intervention to tally the available points over a given week. For example, students could receive half points for completing certain tasks after a deadline which requires manual intervention from the course lecturer to reset the points awarded to a different total after each deadline. Though our study explored gamification using Level Up!, there are a host of other plug-ins which can be adapted in virtual learning environments such as Quizventure[4] and Block Game[5]. [Heilbrunn et al., 2017] provide a detailed review of tools for gamification analytics. Finally, we highlight the importance of using learning analytics, where possible, to access data from students on a course when measuring the success of a new teaching method or intervention. If the instructors of the two courses under consideration here had relied on feedback from students to inform teaching strategy - which was consistently positive even before the implementation of Level Up! - the true extent of the lack of engagement in the pre-lecture materials may never have been identified. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. available on arxiv [4] https://github.com/xow/moodle-mod_quizgame [5] https://moodle.org/plugins/block_game

Levelling Up Learning: Exploring the Impact of Gamification in Flipped Classrooms: Discussion

One of the most repeated questions I get is: how do I evaluate whether I should join an early seed-stage startup? Embarking on a journey with a startup is akin to taking a leap of faith. While there's no guarantee of success, conducting due diligence can significantly mitigate risks. Having been in such a position a couple of times myself, I wanted to share the framework I use that may help you make your decision. For a quick background, the first startup I joined after my undergrad, MIME360, was acquired by Flipkart to build out its digital store. The four years I worked at Flipkart, it went through a hyper-growth phase to become India's biggest eCommerce company. After doing my Masters in Computer Science from Columbia University, I was fortunate to find another set of high performers with TellApart. TellApart ended up being Twitter's biggest acquisition, and I was fortunate to be part of that journey too. After spending 6 years building ad products at Twitter, I wanted to get back to early-stage companies, which led me to join Frec as a founding engineer. Frec is a fintech startup, democratizing complex financial instruments which were previously accessible to a wealthy few. Unlike MIME360 and TellApart, where I was very early in my career and also just at the right place at the right time, Frec was a very intentional decision. I had worked with some of the other founding engineers before, so I was confident the team was capable of executing. Josh McFarland (TellApart founder) was the lead investor from Greylock, so that was another huge vote of confidence. When I spoke to Mo Al Adham, the founder of Frec, his thoughts about the team and product-market fit complimented mine, and I was convinced I was making the right decision. Given my prior experience with small and medium-sized start-ups, some of my friends/colleagues reach out to me to help evaluate a startup they’re considering joining. Joining a new company is a big step, both personally and professionally. Making an informed decision is much easier with public companies since a lot of resources/metrics that you might need are already available like revenue growth, median salary for your role, opinion of current and past employees, etc. Such data is generally not available for most startups, especially the early-stage ones (pre-series B) which makes it quite a risky prospect. We know start-ups are inherently hard, and while there is no guarantee of success, you can definitely mitigate some risk by doing your own due diligence. Most start-ups are aware of this and are willing to share information with potential employees within reasonable limits. It's essential to remember that joining a startup is not just about being hired; it's a mutual exploration where you are interviewing the company as much as they are interviewing you. Before saying yes to joining a startup, it's crucial to have a clear understanding of what you aim to gain from the experience. With the hope that it can help others as well, I am sharing some of the things I considered when making my decision to join Frec. Product Understanding the product is fundamental as it forms the cornerstone of the startup's existence. What problem are you trying to solve? What positions you to best solve this problem? Do you have product-market fit (PMF)? If not, what does PMF look like to you? In other words, what metrics will convince you that you've attained PMF? Who are your primary competitors, and what differentiates you from them? What is the biggest pain point for your product/customers right now? Who is the target audience?

As a side note, it always helps if it’s a product you believe you will actually use (now or in the future) Company Evaluating the company's overall health and trajectory is vital for long-term commitment. You don't want to join a company for 6 months for it to run out of money. These questions will help evaluate the health of the company and what are their plans for the next 1-2 years. What's your burn rate and what are your future funding plans? Alternate: What is the current runway?
How much is the current revenue (if any)? Future plans for revenue streams? Team The dynamics and cohesion within the team can significantly impact your experience and success within the startup. Even if there is no financial success, you can still gain a lot by working with a high-performing team. Has anyone already left the company, and if so, why?
How do you facilitate onboarding for new team members?
How do people collaborate and resolve conflicts within the team?
What is the company’s policy on remote or flexible work?
How often do people work from the office? (This might have a significant impact on your decision as well. Early in your career, you want to work with people in the office as much as possible) Founder Understanding the vision and leadership style of the founder(s) can provide insights into the startup's direction. Is this the founder’s first startup or do they have previous exits?


Note: Founders with previous exists (IPO/acquisitions) have done it before and know the recipe well.



For solo founders: Why do it solo considering the percentage of success from solo founders is less? How does the founder brainstorm ideas? For multiple founders: How are conflicts resolved, and how are decisions made? Investors The motivations behind investor backing can shed light on the perceived potential of the startup from a third party. A lot of times startups will let you talk to their investors too. If you’ve already cleared the interviews, then they'll try hard to sell you. You should research the quality of investors backing the company, their past bets, success rate, etc. Why did the investors choose to invest in the founder/company? Are they betting on the team or the product?


What does PMF look like to them?


Hopefully, it’s aligned with Founders vision




Is the press related to the investment? Role Clarifying your role and expectations ensures alignment between personal growth and company objectives. For technical roles, understanding the technological landscape is crucial. A lot of times I’ve seen engineers burnt out by simply using bad tools for the job. How does my role contribute to improving the product?
What does success look like in this role, and how will I be measured? Alternate: Who is your ideal candidate?
What is the technology stack?
What processes are in place for planning, testing, and code reviews?
What is the on-call rotation like? How is deployment managed? As you might have noticed, we're intentionally skipping compensation/benefits in this set of questions, since it can be a post on its own. Not to mention startup compensation gets really complex with ISOs, options, PPU, 409a evaluation, strike price, exercise price, etc. Another aspect not covered that might be crucial to you is immigration-related questions in case you need a work visa. Remember, this isn't meant to be a comprehensive list. You might care about some criteria more than others. By asking the right questions and delving deep into various aspects of the startup, you can make an informed choice that aligns with your career goals and aspirations. One of the most repeated questions I get is: how do I evaluate whether I should join an early seed-stage startup? Embarking on a journey with a startup is akin to taking a leap of faith. While there's no guarantee of success, conducting due diligence can significantly mitigate risks. Having been in such a position a couple of times myself, I wanted to share the framework I use that may help you make your decision. For a quick background, the first startup I joined after my undergrad, MIME360, was acquired by Flipkart to build out its digital store. The four years I worked at Flipkart, it went through a hyper-growth phase to become India's biggest eCommerce company. After doing my Masters in Computer Science from Columbia University, I was fortunate to find another set of high performers with TellApart. TellApart ended up being Twitter's biggest acquisition, and I was fortunate to be part of that journey too. After spending 6 years building ad products at Twitter, I wanted to get back to early-stage companies, which led me to join Frec as a founding engineer. Frec is a fintech startup, democratizing complex financial instruments which were previously accessible to a wealthy few. Unlike MIME360 and TellApart, where I was very early in my career and also just at the right place at the right time, Frec was a very intentional decision. I had worked with some of the other founding engineers before, so I was confident the team was capable of executing. Josh McFarland (TellApart founder) was the lead investor from Greylock, so that was another huge vote of confidence. When I spoke to Mo Al Adham, the founder of Frec, his thoughts about the team and product-market fit complimented mine, and I was convinced I was making the right decision. Given my prior experience with small and medium-sized start-ups, some of my friends/colleagues reach out to me to help evaluate a startup they’re considering joining. Joining a new company is a big step, both personally and professionally. Making an informed decision is much easier with public companies since a lot of resources/metrics that you might need are already available like revenue growth, median salary for your role, opinion of current and past employees, etc. Such data is generally not available for most startups, especially the early-stage ones (pre-series B) which makes it quite a risky prospect. We know start-ups are inherently hard, and while there is no guarantee of success, you can definitely mitigate some risk by doing your own due diligence. Most start-ups are aware of this and are willing to share information with potential employees within reasonable limits. It's essential to remember that joining a startup is not just about being hired; it's a mutual exploration where you are interviewing the company as much as they are interviewing you. Before saying yes to joining a startup, it's crucial to have a clear understanding of what you aim to gain from the experience. With the hope that it can help others as well, I am sharing some of the things I considered when making my decision to join Frec. Product Understanding the product is fundamental as it forms the cornerstone of the startup's existence. Understanding the product is fundamental as it forms the cornerstone of the startup's existence. What problem are you trying to solve? What positions you to best solve this problem? What problem are you trying to solve? What positions you to best solve this problem? Do you have product-market fit (PMF)? If not, what does PMF look like to you? In other words, what metrics will convince you that you've attained PMF? Do you have product-market fit (PMF)? If not, what does PMF look like to you? In other words, what metrics will convince you that you've attained PMF? Who are your primary competitors, and what differentiates you from them? Who are your primary competitors, and what differentiates you from them? What is the biggest pain point for your product/customers right now? What is the biggest pain point for your product/customers right now? Who is the target audience?

As a side note, it always helps if it’s a product you believe you will actually use (now or in the future) Who is the target audience? As a side note, it always helps if it’s a product you believe you will actually use (now or in the future) As a side note, it always helps if it’s a product you believe you will actually use (now or in the future) As a side note, it always helps if it’s a product you believe you will actually use (now or in the future) Company Evaluating the company's overall health and trajectory is vital for long-term commitment. You don't want to join a company for 6 months for it to run out of money. These questions will help evaluate the health of the company and what are their plans for the next 1-2 years. Evaluating the company's overall health and trajectory is vital for long-term commitment. What's your burn rate and what are your future funding plans? Alternate: What is the current runway? How much is the current revenue (if any)? Future plans for revenue streams? What's your burn rate and what are your future funding plans? Alternate: What is the current runway? How much is the current revenue (if any)? Future plans for revenue streams? Team The dynamics and cohesion within the team can significantly impact your experience and success within the startup. Even if there is no financial success, you can still gain a lot by working with a high-performing team. The dynamics and cohesion within the team can significantly impact your experience and success within the startup. Has anyone already left the company, and if so, why? How do you facilitate onboarding for new team members? How do people collaborate and resolve conflicts within the team? What is the company’s policy on remote or flexible work? How often do people work from the office? (This might have a significant impact on your decision as well. Early in your career, you want to work with people in the office as much as possible) Has anyone already left the company, and if so, why? How do you facilitate onboarding for new team members? How do people collaborate and resolve conflicts within the team? What is the company’s policy on remote or flexible work? How often do people work from the office? (This might have a significant impact on your decision as well. Early in your career, you want to work with people in the office as much as possible) Founder Understanding the vision and leadership style of the founder(s) can provide insights into the startup's direction. Understanding the vision and leadership style of the founder(s) can provide insights into the startup's direction. Is this the founder’s first startup or do they have previous exits?


Note: Founders with previous exists (IPO/acquisitions) have done it before and know the recipe well. For solo founders: Why do it solo considering the percentage of success from solo founders is less? How does the founder brainstorm ideas? Is this the founder’s first startup or do they have previous exits? Note: Founders with previous exists (IPO/acquisitions) have done it before and know the recipe well. Note: Founders with previous exists (IPO/acquisitions) have done it before and know the recipe well. Note: Founders with previous exists (IPO/acquisitions) have done it before and know the recipe well. Note: Founders with previous exists (IPO/acquisitions) have done it before and know the recipe well. For solo founders: Why do it solo considering the percentage of success from solo founders is less? How does the founder brainstorm ideas? For multiple founders: How are conflicts resolved, and how are decisions made? For multiple founders: How are conflicts resolved, and how are decisions made? Investors The motivations behind investor backing can shed light on the perceived potential of the startup from a third party. The motivations behind investor backing can shed light on the perceived potential of the startup from a third party. A lot of times startups will let you talk to their investors too. If you’ve already cleared the interviews, then they'll try hard to sell you. You should research the quality of investors backing the company, their past bets, success rate, etc. A lot of times startups will let you talk to their investors too. If you’ve already cleared the interviews, then they'll try hard to sell you. You should research the quality of investors backing the company, their past bets, success rate, etc. Why did the investors choose to invest in the founder/company? Are they betting on the team or the product? What does PMF look like to them?


Hopefully, it’s aligned with Founders vision Is the press related to the investment? Why did the investors choose to invest in the founder/company? Are they betting on the team or the product? Why did the investors choose to invest in the founder/company? Are they betting on the team or the product? What does PMF look like to them? Hopefully, it’s aligned with Founders vision What does PMF look like to them? Hopefully, it’s aligned with Founders vision Hopefully, it’s aligned with Founders vision Hopefully, it’s aligned with Founders vision Is the press related to the investment? Is the press related to the investment? Role Clarifying your role and expectations ensures alignment between personal growth and company objectives. Clarifying your role and expectations ensures alignment between personal growth and company objectives. For technical roles, understanding the technological landscape is crucial. A lot of times I’ve seen engineers burnt out by simply using bad tools for the job. How does my role contribute to improving the product? What does success look like in this role, and how will I be measured? Alternate: Who is your ideal candidate? What is the technology stack? What processes are in place for planning, testing, and code reviews? What is the on-call rotation like? How is deployment managed? How does my role contribute to improving the product? What does success look like in this role, and how will I be measured? Alternate: Who is your ideal candidate? What is the technology stack? What processes are in place for planning, testing, and code reviews? What is the on-call rotation like? How is deployment managed? As you might have noticed, we're intentionally skipping compensation/benefits in this set of questions, since it can be a post on its own. Not to mention startup compensation gets really complex with ISOs, options, PPU, 409a evaluation, strike price, exercise price, etc. compensation/benefits Another aspect not covered that might be crucial to you is immigration-related questions in case you need a work visa. Remember, this isn't meant to be a comprehensive list. You might care about some criteria more than others. By asking the right questions and delving deep into various aspects of the startup, you can make an informed choice that aligns with your career goals and aspirations.

Beyond the Offer Letter: Questions Every Startup Candidate Should Ask

SEO 101: Content Readability Matters!

The Top Three Pros and Cons of Artificial Intelligence

This paper is available on arxiv under CC 4.0 license.
Authors:
(1) D.Sinclair, Imense Ltd, and email: david@imense.com;
(2) W.T.Pye, Warwick University, and email:  willempye@gmail.com. Table of Links Abstract and Introduction
Interrogating the LLM with an Emotion Eliciting Tail Prompt
PCA analysis of the Emotion of Amazon reviews
Future Work
Conclusions
Acknowledgments and References Abstract This paper shows how LLMs (Large Language Models) [5, 2] may be used to estimate a summary of the emotional state associated with piece of text. The summary of emotional state is a dictionary of words used to describe emotion together with the probability of the word appearing after a prompt comprising the original text and an emotion eliciting tail. Through emotion analysis of Amazon product reviews we demonstrate emotion descriptors can be mapped into a PCA type space. It was hoped that text descriptions of actions to improve a current text described state could also be elicited through a tail prompt. Experiment seemed to indicate that this is not straightforward to make work. This failure put our hoped for selection of action via choosing the best predicted outcome via comparing emotional responses out of reach for the moment. Keywords: synthetic consciousness, emotion vector, emotion dictionary, emotion probability vector 1. Introduction Human behaviour is necessarily governed by emotion [3]. Sensed information about the world around us has to be reconciled with our internal state and any action to be taken is chosen so as to lead to future state that seems preferable to our current state [4], where preferable means ‘my feeling is I would like to try the new state or the action possibly leading to a new state’. If we are hungry we will often choose to eat. If we are very hungry we will take greater risk to acquire food. If we are cold we will try to get warm etc. Advertising aims to convince us a course of action will lead to more happiness. Sugary carbonated drinks do not objectively lead to long term happiness but the known short term emotional response to eating sugar is desirable. Sensed data about the world is tremendously diverse, often inaccurate and incomplete and required responses have varying degrees of urgency. The arbitration engine that processes these inputs needs to naturally cope with vagueness while appearing to provide certainty internally. Emotions are the term we use to describe our experience of using this apparatus to make decisions. The phrase computers do not have emotions is often wrongly used to assert that interactive computer software running on a machine cannot ever exhibit or experience emotion. Large Language Models (LLMs) [5, 1, 2] offer a ready means of linking a chunk of text with an estimated emotional state, bridging the gap between the world of text and the realm of human emotion. LLMs have been used in focused sentiment analysis and are reported to perform adequately [6] but at the time of writing we are unaware of other researchers using probabilistic emotion dictionaries. This paper explores the intersection of LLMs and emotions, demonstrating how these models can be harnessed to estimate the emotional content of a piece of text. We present a novel approach to summarizing emotional states by constructing a dictionary of emotion-related words and calculating the probabilities of these words appearing following a prompt that includes both the original text and an emotion-eliciting tail. This methodology allows us to quantitatively assess the emotional landscape of text. To demonstrate our approach we choose a dictionary of 271 emotion describing words and estimate their probability of being associated with a sections Amazon product reviews. Limited computational resources and time means we are only in a position to publish a cursory study. It is likely that many emotion are correlated and an estimate of the dimension of emotional space may be derivable via PCA analysis on a large sample of emotion vectors. We discuss some of the limitations we encountered during experiment and some of the obstacles to producing and regulating the behaviour of emotion based synthetic consciousness. This paper is layed out as follows, section 2 details the LLM and hardware used to run it, section 2.1 details our choices of words to make up our emotion dictionary, section 2.1.1 covers estimating emotion probabilities from an LLM using a tail prompt. Section 2.1.2 shows results on Amazon reviews. A hint at the PCA structure with in emotion vectors is given in 3. Finally future directions are considered and conclusion given. This paper is available on arxiv under CC 4.0 license. Authors: (1) D.Sinclair, Imense Ltd, and email: david@imense.com; (2) W.T.Pye, Warwick University, and email:  willempye@gmail.com. This paper is available on arxiv under CC 4.0 license. Authors: Authors: (1) D.Sinclair, Imense Ltd, and email: david@imense.com; (2) W.T.Pye, Warwick University, and email:  willempye@gmail.com. Table of Links Abstract and Introduction Interrogating the LLM with an Emotion Eliciting Tail Prompt PCA analysis of the Emotion of Amazon reviews Future Work Conclusions Acknowledgments and References Abstract and Introduction Abstract and Introduction Interrogating the LLM with an Emotion Eliciting Tail Prompt Interrogating the LLM with an Emotion Eliciting Tail Prompt PCA analysis of the Emotion of Amazon reviews PCA analysis of the Emotion of Amazon reviews Future Work Future Work Conclusions Conclusions Acknowledgments and References Acknowledgments and References Abstract This paper shows how LLMs (Large Language Models) [5, 2] may be used to estimate a summary of the emotional state associated with piece of text. The summary of emotional state is a dictionary of words used to describe emotion together with the probability of the word appearing after a prompt comprising the original text and an emotion eliciting tail. Through emotion analysis of Amazon product reviews we demonstrate emotion descriptors can be mapped into a PCA type space. It was hoped that text descriptions of actions to improve a current text described state could also be elicited through a tail prompt. Experiment seemed to indicate that this is not straightforward to make work. This failure put our hoped for selection of action via choosing the best predicted outcome via comparing emotional responses out of reach for the moment. Keywords: synthetic consciousness, emotion vector, emotion dictionary, emotion probability vector Keywords: synthetic consciousness, emotion vector, emotion dictionary, emotion probability vector 1. Introduction Human behaviour is necessarily governed by emotion [3]. Sensed information about the world around us has to be reconciled with our internal state and any action to be taken is chosen so as to lead to future state that seems preferable to our current state [4], where preferable means ‘my feeling is I would like to try the new state or the action possibly leading to a new state’. If we are hungry we will often choose to eat. If we are very hungry we will take greater risk to acquire food. If we are cold we will try to get warm etc. Advertising aims to convince us a course of action will lead to more happiness. Sugary carbonated drinks do not objectively lead to long term happiness but the known short term emotional response to eating sugar is desirable. Sensed data about the world is tremendously diverse, often inaccurate and incomplete and required responses have varying degrees of urgency. The arbitration engine that processes these inputs needs to naturally cope with vagueness while appearing to provide certainty internally. Emotions are the term we use to describe our experience of using this apparatus to make decisions. The phrase computers do not have emotions is often wrongly used to assert that interactive computer software running on a machine cannot ever exhibit or experience emotion. Large Language Models (LLMs) [5, 1, 2] offer a ready means of linking a chunk of text with an estimated emotional state, bridging the gap between the world of text and the realm of human emotion. LLMs have been used in focused sentiment analysis and are reported to perform adequately [6] but at the time of writing we are unaware of other researchers using probabilistic emotion dictionaries. This paper explores the intersection of LLMs and emotions, demonstrating how these models can be harnessed to estimate the emotional content of a piece of text. We present a novel approach to summarizing emotional states by constructing a dictionary of emotion-related words and calculating the probabilities of these words appearing following a prompt that includes both the original text and an emotion-eliciting tail. This methodology allows us to quantitatively assess the emotional landscape of text. To demonstrate our approach we choose a dictionary of 271 emotion describing words and estimate their probability of being associated with a sections Amazon product reviews. Limited computational resources and time means we are only in a position to publish a cursory study. It is likely that many emotion are correlated and an estimate of the dimension of emotional space may be derivable via PCA analysis on a large sample of emotion vectors. We discuss some of the limitations we encountered during experiment and some of the obstacles to producing and regulating the behaviour of emotion based synthetic consciousness. This paper is layed out as follows, section 2 details the LLM and hardware used to run it, section 2.1 details our choices of words to make up our emotion dictionary, section 2.1.1 covers estimating emotion probabilities from an LLM using a tail prompt. Section 2.1.2 shows results on Amazon reviews. A hint at the PCA structure with in emotion vectors is given in 3. Finally future directions are considered and conclusion given.

Estimate Emotion Probability Vectors Using LLMs:  Abstract and Introduction

LLMs ব্যবহার করে আবেগ সম্ভাব্যতা ভেক্টর অনুমান করুন: বিমূর্ত এবং ভূমিকা

Schätzen Sie Emotionswahrscheinlichkeitsvektoren mit LLMs: Zusammenfassung und Einführung

Estimar vectores de probabilidad de emociones mediante LLM: resumen e introducción

Estimer les vecteurs de probabilité d'émotion à l'aide de LLM : résumé et introduction

एलएलएम का उपयोग करके भावना संभाव्यता वैक्टर का अनुमान लगाएं: सार और परिचय

LLM を使用した感情確率ベクトルの推定: 概要と概要

LLM을 사용한 감정 확률 벡터 추정: 요약 및 소개

Estimar vetores de probabilidade de emoção usando LLMs: Resumo e introdução

Оцените векторы вероятности эмоций с помощью LLM: Аннотация и введение

Yüksek Lisans'ı Kullanarak Duygu Olasılığı Vektörlerini Tahmin Edin: Özet ve Giriş

Ước tính các vectơ xác suất cảm xúc bằng cách sử dụng LLM: Tóm tắt và giới thiệu

使用 LLM 估计情绪概率向量：摘要和简介

GenAI in Elections: Reshaping Campaigns, Raising Ethical Concerns

নির্বাচনে GenAI: প্রচারাভিযান পুনর্নির্মাণ, নৈতিক উদ্বেগ উত্থাপন

GenAI bei Wahlen: Kampagnen neu gestalten, ethische Bedenken aufwerfen

GenAI en las elecciones: remodelando campañas, planteando preocupaciones éticas

GenAI dans les élections : remodeler les campagnes et soulever des préoccupations éthiques

चुनावों में GenAI: अभियानों को नया स्वरूप देना, नैतिक चिंताएं बढ़ाना

選挙における GenAI: 選挙運動の再構築、倫理的懸念の高まり

선거에서의 GenAI: 캠페인 재편, 윤리적 우려 제기

GenAI nas eleições: remodelando campanhas, levantando preocupações éticas

ГенИИ на выборах: изменение избирательных кампаний, рост этических проблем

Seçimlerde GenAI: Kampanyaları Yeniden Şekillendirmek, Etik Kaygıları Artırmak

GenAI trong bầu cử: Định hình lại các chiến dịch, nâng cao mối quan ngại về đạo đức

GenAI 在选举中的应用：重塑竞选活动，引发道德担忧

Artisanal Power: How to Avert a Threatened Mass Casualty Event

Hi everyone, here 🙌🏻 Daria Strategy I’m a Growth Marketer, Brand Strategist and Communications expert working with blockchain and crypto projects. I create additional value and build brand awareness of the Web3 companies among users, developers, and VC funds. Recently, the crypto market exploded with news about the airdrop of , the most hyped restaking platform. The conditions for receiving this drop caused an even greater explosion of emotions, discussions, and even hate. EigenLayer Ethereum The project offers a platform for those who want to restake rather than the classic staking process that attracts regulators' attention. The emergence of EigenLayer and LRT restaking protocols increased ETH's share of staking to 26% of the total supply. According to , EigenLayer is TVL's second-largest protocol on after , at $14.2 billion: DeFi Lama Ethereum Lido An airdrop from canonically illustrates community expectations and market conditions. In this article, I explain what happened and what problems this case highlights in the crypto market. I also took a comment from my colleague, a product marketer who is now introducing a similar product to the market. Let’s figure it out together! EigenLayer A short overview of the Eigen Layer Airdrop Over the last year, EigenLayer has become super popular because of the rethinking of Ethereum restaking and the big names of venture funds that have invested in this project (a16z crypto, Ethereal Ventures, Polychain Capital, Coinbase Ventures, etc.). The journalists of recommend calling the EIGEN token generation event a “stake drop,” not “an airdrop. “ EIGEN can only be staked with EigenLabs’ proof-of-concept/proof-of-value data availability service EigenDA, at least in the beginning, until other apps building with EigenLayer integrate the token into their own platforms. Blockworks According to tokenomics, 45% of the 1.67 billion coins will go to the community, and a third will go to the airdrop for staking participants. The main complaint is related to the terms of holding the coins—after the $EIGEN stamp, they cannot be moved, and the monthly split will be only 5%. The platform team decided not to allow users from the USA, Canada, India, China, and several other countries to distribute and also warned about blocking for using VPN services. There were no geoblocks for restaking Ethereum before, so this situation angered many users who held their ETH in EigenLayer. The negative reaction to the actions of the project team caused a surge in asset withdrawals from the restaking service. According to , more than 7,000 withdrawal requests were initiated. Dune Here is a funny but apt video based on a famous meme I found on Twitter. In general, it describes pretty well the situation around the airdrop and the reasons for the disappointment of the community. The link to the post with this . video is here What does this EigenLayer Airdrop show us? The EigenLayer case highlights several important points and issues that we could observe that have been in the market for a long time and which all participants try to ignore. 1️⃣ The successful airdrop in late 2022 ushered in the "fat retrodrops" era and raised farmer expectations. People imitate activities in the networks, hoping to wake up one morning and see Lambo from the window. from described this point very well: Aptos @RyanSAdams Bankless 2️⃣ Many projects started betting on the token and using it as a marketing and reputation tool. I talked to the founders, convinced that only a drop would help them draw attention to the project. This is naive and short-sighted. Paying users for using the product is unnatural because instead of healthy competition and customer loyalty, it creates greed and a "gold rush.” 3️⃣ The market does not have sufficient users. Projects encourage activity by hinting at rewards for those who will boost the activity. However, it is obvious that projects can but are not obliged to pay rewards to users for their activity on the network. This sends only one message to the average crypto user: ** Your active participation, in the end, can mean very little. 4️⃣ In the world beyond Web3, businesses compete with each other through better technology, more attractive design, clear communication, and other factors that affect market position. Traditional businesses offer cashback and discounts at the product's launch, but no one pays tens of thousands of people $1000+ for using shampoo or buying a car. 5️⃣ Blockchain projects desperately need users interested in technologies, not drops! This need highlights the significant issues with UX and product value communication. It must be a user-oriented approach with a consistent product and marketing vision. Some Web3 founders started to take this point, but not the majority. The desire to make more complex technological products to show them off in front of fellow technicians takes precedence over a rational approach and customer orientation. What’s the future of restaking in the context of the EigenLayer case? I asked , the Product Marketer at about the case of EigenLayer’s airdrop. Nektar is a multilayered restaking network implementing a comprehensive incentives system for its participants, so Denis is well-versed with the current state of the restaking market and able to share his vision on this issue. Denis Igin , Nektar - What will be further after such a disappointment of the community? Will we see the withdrawal of funds from the restaking platforms? Denis: It’s hard to say about EigenLayer, but restaking as a concept and approach changes everything. For example, it enables the composability of solutions sourcing trust from the same set of validators, leading to technological advances such as native interoperability, etc. After mercenary capital outflow, next comes proving economics that everyone expects from the original design: additional rewards for restakers. Demand from AVSs might not be high at first, as with everything novel, but eventually, repurposing Ethereum security will have a disruptive and long-lasting impact comparable to decoupling execution by rollups. - Is the drop a panacea for product promotion? Denis: When used wisely, airdrops are a great way to gather relevant community information about the project. Gamification works too, e.g. Nektar recently . launched a points system - What conclusions did you draw following the case of the EigenLayer airdrop? Denis: The main lesson is that larger projects may fail in many ways, and this is likely due to the experimental nature of the restaking technology. As a community, we should not repeat the mistake of creating an outsized stakeholder leader. There’s room for more restaking players, and Nektar looks like a viable alternative to EL due to its integrated DVT, providing better resiliency and decentralization. Conclusion Many people support this situation with airdrops because it brings (actually, not always) high income in a short-term perspective. Another issue is that high-tech projects are not ready to be more open to a broader audience; they only create technologies for developers, limiting the market's growth. I can't imagine the industry's organic growth if the blockchain/crypto projects start fighting over who will give away more crypto in fear that their activity on the network or the number of followers will fall due to inflated expectations. I urge all members of the Web3 industry pay more attention to the value of the project and build a long-term relationships between the product and the users. The hype passes quickly, and what remains in return, loyalty or disappointment, depends on the ability of the founders to play the long game. Read my previous articles about and making blockchain as popular as AI launching a Web3 Project in 2024. Follow me on social media: , , and LinkedIn X . YouTube

EigenLayer Airdrop Has Highlighted the Problems in the Crypto Market

EigenLayer Airdrop ক্রিপ্টো মার্কেটের সমস্যাগুলো তুলে ধরেছে

EigenLayer Airdrop hat die Probleme auf dem Kryptomarkt hervorgehoben

EigenLayer Airdrop ha resaltado los problemas en el mercado criptográfico

EigenLayer Airdrop a mis en évidence les problèmes du marché de la cryptographie

EigenLayer एयरड्रॉप ने क्रिप्टो मार्केट की समस्याओं को उजागर किया है

EigenLayer エアドロップは暗号通貨市場の問題を浮き彫りにした

EigenLayer Airdrop은 암호화폐 시장의 문제를 강조했습니다

EigenLayer Airdrop destacou os problemas no mercado criptográfico

EigenLayer Airdrop выявил проблемы на рынке криптовалют

EigenLayer Airdrop, Kripto Piyasasındaki Sorunları Vurguladı

EigenLayer Airdrop đã nêu bật các vấn đề trong thị trường tiền điện tử

EigenLayer 空投凸显了加密货币市场的问题

Disclaimer: The author works at Microsoft. The article is a general exploration of user trust and AI, but it does call out some references to the author’s company’s products, such as Copilot/Azure Open AI. “I knew I had just seen the most important advance in technology since the graphical user interface.” — Bill Gates, about ChatGPT acing an AP-level biology test Generative AI’s surge in popularity has opened up new and innovative possibilities, transforming the way we live and work. According to a study conducted by PwC, AI could contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy in 2030. A Forbes Advisor report shows that a staggering 97 percent of business owners believe ChatGPT will help their business. These are exciting times for new startups specializing in Generative AI. However, there is a dichotomy in how end users feel about the Generative AI revolution. For instance, 46 percent of Americans are equally concerned and excited about AI (Artificial Intelligence). This type of user mistrust and skepticism has the potential to encumber AI adoption. What are some ways to mitigate inaccurate or misleading content generated by Large Language Models? How can companies build products that users not only love but trust? Hallucinations Large Language Models (LLMs) have been labeled stochastic parrots — a fitting metaphor for entities that regurgitate convincingly plausible answers without really understanding the meaning behind them. As Stephen Wolfram put it, a model like ChatGPT is simply adding one word at a time. LLMs are trained on massive amounts of data from various sources but aren’t by themselves doing any lookups or referring to external sources of information. This means that an LLM can make misleading claims or factual errors — while sounding fairly confident about the mistake. These counterfactual statements are, somewhat anthropomorphically, nicknamed hallucinations. To some extent, LLMs are meant to hallucinate. It’s Generative AI’s version of “it’s not a bug — it’s by design.” The same capability that makes LLMs hallucinate is also what makes them powerful. On the flip side, there are situations when hallucinations are not desirable and where it is critical to get truthful and factual responses. Working around the non-determinism of GenAI products continues to be a persistent challenge. However, there are ways to ensure that we can still maintain user trust while harnessing all the creativity and potential behind AI. Adding a Grounding Source of Truth One way to mitigate hallucinations is to augment the knowledge an LLM possesses with a grounding source of truth. Imagine you’re making someone take a test on a complex, previously unseen topic. This person is a fluent English speaker, but they know next to nothing about the topic they’re being tested on. Now, they could simply fabricate answers for all the questions. Or, you can give them an open textbook about the topic they’re being tested on so they have reference material from which they can answer. This example is a simplified explanation of what grounding represents in the context of LLMs. Grounding is table stakes while creating any kind of custom LLM application, especially for internal data (such as customer service chatbots that rely on non–public-facing knowledge bases) or applications that rely on a corpus to retrieve answers (a.k.a., search engines). As far as implementation goes, Retrieval Augmented Generation is probably the most ubiquitous pattern currently used for grounding LLMs. There are numerous out-of-the-box RAG solutions in the market that take in a custom corpus to do retrieval and generation. Azure Open AI on your own data is one such example, where users can upload a dataset or document from blob storage and “chat” with it. The feature also offers citations to the source text, along with the response. Making an LLM cite an authoritative source as the reason behind a particular answer automatically increases transparency and adds credibility. Grounding can also help with evaluation and validation of response quality, a key component to testing Generative AI applications before making them production-worthy for public release. In the absence of a grounding dataset, there is no way to “compare” the responses of an LLM to see if they are based on truth or not. So, choosing the right implementation of RAG and the right grounding dataset is critical for improving the factualness of the GenAI application. Increasing Explainability Surveys have shown that people think providing too little context on AI decisions can erode trust. Deep Learning models are trained to get accurate and fast predictions, but the end users are often clueless as to why the model generated a particular response. A famous example of this black box behavior occurs in my favorite work of fiction, Douglas Adams’ brilliant Hitchhiker’s Guide to Galaxy. In the book, the supercomputer Deep Thought is tasked with working out the Answer to The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. After 7.5 million years, Deep Thought responds that the answer is 42. The scientists are puzzled, but Deep Thought is quite confident about the answer: “I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you’ve never actually known what the question was.” In order to then calculate the Ultimate Question, a special computer is built, and hilarities ensue — but I won’t spoil the book any further. Decades after the book was written, we now have ways to peek behind the curtain and understand why an AI-generated a particular response. While traditional Machine Learning (ML) models use techniques like LIME and SHAP for explainability, Chain-of-Thought (CoT) prompting is a popular technique to add more transparency to Generative AI’s reasoning process. In essence, CoT consists of meta-prompts asking the AI to explain itself or interpret why it arrived at a particular output. In fact, researchers have noted that just adding a phrase like “Let’s think step by step” also increases the accuracy of generated responses, even in zero-shot scenarios. Employing Guardrails Apart from grounding, there are also various other techniques to reduce hallucinations, including advanced prompt engineering with CoVE (chain of thought verification), feedback loops with iterative improvements (or “humans in the loop”), using a combination of fine-tuned models with RAG, asking an LLM to self-critique its own output, as well as playing around with the “creativity” and “temperature” of LLM APIs. However, none of these methods are infallible since an LLM is essentially non-deterministic and unpredictable. There could be grave ethical as well as practical implications from Artificial Intelligence making decisions without any oversight. Incorrect predictions could lead to potentially life-threatening implications in fields like medical sciences, pharmacology, autonomous vehicle design, law enforcement, or disaster management. In the end, the safest option is for humans to have the final say in accepting or rejecting any AI-driven predictions. Having the end user in charge of vetting AI decisions also serves as a great feedback loop for developers to learn from and iterate continuously. Efforts to reduce hallucinations by improving factualness and transparency will increase user confidence in AI products. In addition, accountability is a key Responsible AI that must be at the center of all AI design. AI can be an amazing tool to revolutionize the way we all live and work — but ultimately, not to replace human judgment. Disclaimer: The author works at Microsoft. The article is a general exploration of user trust and AI, but it does call out some references to the author’s company’s products, such as Copilot/Azure Open AI. Disclaimer: The author works at Microsoft. The article is a general exploration of user trust and AI, but it does call out some references to the author’s company’s products, such as Copilot/Azure Open AI. Disclaimer: The author works at Microsoft. The article is a general exploration of user trust and AI, but it does call out some references to the author’s company’s products, such as Copilot/Azure Open AI. “I knew I had just seen the most important advance in technology since the graphical user interface.” — Bill Gates, about ChatGPT acing an AP-level biology test “I knew I had just seen the most important advance in technology since the graphical user interface.” — Bill Gates, about ChatGPT acing an AP-level biology test “I knew I had just seen the most important advance in technology since the graphical user interface.” Bill Gates, about ChatGPT acing an AP-level biology test Bill Gates, about ChatGPT acing an AP-level biology test Generative AI’s surge in popularity has opened up new and innovative possibilities, transforming the way we live and work. According to a study conducted by PwC, AI could contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy in 2030 . A Forbes Advisor report shows that a staggering 97 percent of business owners believe ChatGPT will help their business . These are exciting times for new startups specializing in Generative AI . AI could contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy in 2030 97 percent of business owners believe ChatGPT will help their business new startups specializing in Generative AI However, there is a dichotomy in how end users feel about the Generative AI revolution. For instance, 46 percent of Americans are equally concerned and excited about AI (Artificial Intelligence). This type of user mistrust and skepticism has the potential to encumber AI adoption. What are some ways to mitigate inaccurate or misleading content generated by Large Language Models? How can companies build products that users not only love but trust? 46 percent of Americans are equally concerned and excited about Hallucinations Hallucinations Large Language Models (LLMs) have been labeled stochastic parrots — a fitting metaphor for entities that regurgitate convincingly plausible answers without really understanding the meaning behind them. As Stephen Wolfram put it, a model like ChatGPT is simply adding one word at a time. stochastic parrots adding one word at a time. LLMs are trained on massive amounts of data from various sources but aren’t by themselves doing any lookups or referring to external sources of information. This means that an LLM can make misleading claims or factual errors — while sounding fairly confident about the mistake. These counterfactual statements are, somewhat anthropomorphically , nicknamed hallucinations . somewhat anthropomorphically hallucinations To some extent, LLMs are meant to hallucinate. It’s Generative AI’s version of “it’s not a bug — it’s by design.” The same capability that makes LLMs hallucinate is also what makes them powerful. On the flip side, there are situations when hallucinations are not desirable and where it is critical to get truthful and factual responses. meant Working around the non-determinism of GenAI products continues to be a persistent challenge. However, there are ways to ensure that we can still maintain user trust while harnessing all the creativity and potential behind AI. Adding a Grounding Source of Truth Adding a Grounding Source of Truth One way to mitigate hallucinations is to augment the knowledge an LLM possesses with a grounding source of truth. Imagine you’re making someone take a test on a complex, previously unseen topic. This person is a fluent English speaker, but they know next to nothing about the topic they’re being tested on. Now, they could simply fabricate answers for all the questions. Or, you can give them an open textbook about the topic they’re being tested on so they have reference material from which they can answer. This example is a simplified explanation of what grounding represents in the context of LLMs. Grounding is table stakes while creating any kind of custom LLM application, especially for internal data (such as customer service chatbots that rely on non–public-facing knowledge bases) or applications that rely on a corpus to retrieve answers (a.k.a., search engines). As far as implementation goes, Retrieval Augmented Generation is probably the most ubiquitous pattern currently used for grounding LLMs. There are numerous out-of-the-box RAG solutions in the market that take in a custom corpus to do retrieval and generation. Retrieval Augmented Generation Azure Open AI on your own data is one such example, where users can upload a dataset or document from blob storage and “chat” with it. The feature also offers citations to the source text, along with the response. Making an LLM cite an authoritative source as the reason behind a particular answer automatically increases transparency and adds credibility. Azure Open AI on your own data Grounding can also help with evaluation and validation of response quality, a key component to testing Generative AI applications before making them production-worthy for public release. In the absence of a grounding dataset, there is no way to “compare” the responses of an LLM to see if they are based on truth or not. So, choosing the right implementation of RAG and the right grounding dataset is critical for improving the factualness of the GenAI application. Increasing Explainability Increasing Explainability Surveys have shown that people think providing too little context on AI decisions can erode trust . Deep Learning models are trained to get accurate and fast predictions, but the end users are often clueless as to why the model generated a particular response. providing too little context on AI decisions can erode trust why A famous example of this black box behavior occurs in my favorite work of fiction, Douglas Adams’ brilliant Hitchhiker’s Guide to Galaxy . Hitchhiker’s Guide to Galaxy In the book, the supercomputer Deep Thought is tasked with working out the Answer to The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. After 7.5 million years, Deep Thought responds that the answer is 42. The scientists are puzzled, but Deep Thought is quite confident about the answer: “I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you’ve never actually known what the question was.” “ I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you’ve never actually known what the question was. ” I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you’ve never actually known what the question was. question In order to then calculate the Ultimate Question, a special computer is built, and hilarities ensue — but I won’t spoil the book any further. Decades after the book was written, we now have ways to peek behind the curtain and understand why an AI-generated a particular response. While traditional Machine Learning (ML) models use techniques like LIME and SHAP for explainability, Chain-of-Thought (CoT) prompting is a popular technique to add more transparency to Generative AI’s reasoning process. In essence, CoT consists of meta-prompts asking the AI to explain itself or interpret why it arrived at a particular output. In fact, researchers have noted that just adding a phrase like “ Let’s think step by step ” also increases the accuracy of generated responses, even in zero-shot scenarios. Let’s think step by step Employing Guardrails Employing Guardrails Apart from grounding, there are also various other techniques to reduce hallucinations, including advanced prompt engineering with CoVE (chain of thought verification), feedback loops with iterative improvements (or “humans in the loop”), using a combination of fine-tuned models with RAG, asking an LLM to self-critique its own output, as well as playing around with the “creativity” and “temperature” of LLM APIs. However, none of these methods are infallible since an LLM is essentially non-deterministic and unpredictable. There could be grave ethical as well as practical implications from Artificial Intelligence making decisions without any oversight. Incorrect predictions could lead to potentially life-threatening implications in fields like medical sciences, pharmacology, autonomous vehicle design, law enforcement, or disaster management. In the end, the safest option is for humans to have the final say in accepting or rejecting any AI-driven predictions. Having the end user in charge of vetting AI decisions also serves as a great feedback loop for developers to learn from and iterate continuously. Efforts to reduce hallucinations by improving factualness and transparency will increase user confidence in AI products. In addition, accountability is a key Responsible AI that must be at the center of all AI design. AI can be an amazing tool to revolutionize the way we all live and work — but ultimately, not to replace human judgment.

Pursuit of Trustworthiness: Increasing User Trust in Generative AI Products

BiFi -- “pieces of meat” (Lusoga and Luganda, Ugandan). Imagine a world in which WiFi is not just data signals but can also be free Bitcoin satoshis! Call it BiFi (Bitcoin WiFi) World. I speculate below on how it would work and why it would be a pretty good idea. This Is Not UBI, Really. Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a scheme that hopes to give people some free money be it dollars or shillings, to sustain their livelihood every month. Some argue it is not a good free market idea, as free things for some means leeching the hard work of others. I agree. Moreover, UBI is a dollar scheme, and dollars are printed by some people. Hence, people will be spending debt, while the demands of living skyrocket necessitating that they be given even more debt to spend. Arguments for how AI will unleash so much abundance on Earth for a minority owning these AI systems, seem to make UBI possible and to actually warrant that it be implemented. After all, why should anybody be making billions of dollars every year while other people starve? However, the reality is that AI systems are nowhere near the level of autonomy needed to make massive profits without considerable human input. A billion dollars in profit, if made mostly by human labor, will not be made when these are given away freely to non-working people. It is Psychology 101. I'd rather earn free money than sweat it out at a job. My idea is different. My idea is more economic unity effected through unconstrained egalitarian sharing in a scarce digital commodity. The Future of Charity Is Free Sats for All The world of BiFi or Bitcoin WiFi would be a generous world. Certainly far from 1984. Instead of corporate surveillance as done with free information packages, companies give you real goodies as a way to effect corporate social responsibility. And it can be done. States could jump aboard too. Unlike UBI, states shall not be trying to feed people with these satoshis. They will be like candy for children and adults alike. Good candy for creating unity, peace, and encouraging people to dive deeper into the arcane world of cryptographic protocols. A most decentralized way of encouraging innovation in society as a whole. Instead of taking away autonomy, you give it to people. Instead of states banning cryptography like happened with Phil Zimmermann and his PGP, they could encourage it by spreading some value. The ethos of sharing satoshis is deeply rooted in the Bitcoin community. However, the problem with current implementations is that it requires sitting somebody down and convincing them about this great technological idea called Bitcoin. People are afraid of scammers. Especially when it comes to finance, people would rather they keep ignorant than run into something they do not quite understand. And there is a lot to unpack. Scarcity
Digital money
Cryptography
Cryptographic keys
Signing
P2P
Austrian economics
Etc It is quite a lot. Just Give Anonymous People Sats, and Let Them Explore 1 bitcoin has climbed back to $59,000 as of this morning, EAT. Divide this into 100 million, and each satoshi still goes for only $0.00059. To share sats freely and without requiring KYC (it doesn't require KYC), people need to run, at the very least, lighting network/LN nodes. But these are expensive. So, the next best alternative is to use LN apps which charge a few fees. Now, imagine a poster with something like an SSID or a QR code for a WiFi network, except it gives out some free satoshis every, say 10 minutes. Say, 100 sats. This isn't life-changing money. But it is free, and if legally authorized (as has to be for any crypto project today), it could be something done as a 24/7 autonomous charity system. After downloading the required BiFi app, scan the QR code or input the SSID, and voila, enjoy you receive 100 sats. No need to enter your name, no need for an ID, nothing. Just like WiFi. You get the password, and you enjoy. What Could Happen? The Bitcoin community is not growing quickly because very few people are getting some sats on their phones. There is the orange-pilling arc, and I am lucky to have dived in because of it. But I needed to be sent some sats by a Machankura ambassador. And being a content writer perhaps, I later found a way to earn more sats, hence, participating more. The rest is history. A lot of people might be like me. Others, might only need to touch some sats and see how uncomplicated holding some can be. And by extension, all crypto tokens can be WiFi-d. But Bitcoin is my thing. Because it is scarce. So, this will be true charity work. Circa 2025, there might be a “bank run” on the Bitcoin blockchain. The price will shoot up from $70k to $200k. Demand will be through the roof! Don't Airdrop It, Wi-Fi It. No need to shill anybody online. No marketing campaign needed. Simply, give it to people, and see what they do. Yes, you could later put out a data collection form for those who have been orange-pilled. Later, not before. It will go a long way to spread this goodness everywhere. Flaws and all. BiFi -- “pieces of meat” (Lusoga and Luganda, Ugandan). BiFi -- “pieces of meat” (Lusoga and Luganda, Ugandan). Imagine a world in which WiFi is not just data signals but can also be free Bitcoin satoshis! Call it BiFi (Bitcoin WiFi) World. I speculate below on how it would work and why it would be a pretty good idea. This Is Not UBI, Really. Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a scheme that hopes to give people some free money be it dollars or shillings, to sustain their livelihood every month. Some argue it is not a good free market idea, as free things for some means leeching the hard work of others. I agree. Moreover, UBI is a dollar scheme, and dollars are printed by some people. Hence, people will be spending debt, while the demands of living skyrocket necessitating that they be given even more debt to spend. Arguments for how AI will unleash so much abundance on Earth for a minority owning these AI systems, seem to make UBI possible and to actually warrant that it be implemented. After all, why should anybody be making billions of dollars every year while other people starve? However, the reality is that AI systems are nowhere near the level of autonomy needed to make massive profits without considerable human input. A billion dollars in profit, if made mostly by human labor, will not be made when these are given away freely to non-working people. It is Psychology 101. I'd rather earn free money than sweat it out at a job. My idea is different. My idea is more economic unity effected through unconstrained egalitarian sharing in a scarce digital commodity. The Future of Charity Is Free Sats for All The world of BiFi or Bitcoin WiFi would be a generous world. Certainly far from 1984. Instead of corporate surveillance as done with free information packages, companies give you real goodies as a way to effect corporate social responsibility. And it can be done. States could jump aboard too. Unlike UBI, states shall not be trying to feed people with these satoshis. They will be like candy for children and adults alike. Good candy for creating unity, peace, and encouraging people to dive deeper into the arcane world of cryptographic protocols. A most decentralized way of encouraging innovation in society as a whole. Instead of taking away autonomy, you give it to people. Instead of states banning cryptography like happened with Phil Zimmermann and his PGP, they could encourage it by spreading some value. The ethos of sharing satoshis is deeply rooted in the Bitcoin community. However, the problem with current implementations is that it requires sitting somebody down and convincing them about this great technological idea called Bitcoin. People are afraid of scammers. Especially when it comes to finance, people would rather they keep ignorant than run into something they do not quite understand. And there is a lot to unpack. Scarcity Digital money Cryptography Cryptographic keys Signing P2P Austrian economics Etc Scarcity Digital money Cryptography Cryptographic keys Signing P2P Austrian economics Etc It is quite a lot. Just Give Anonymous People Sats, and Let Them Explore 1 bitcoin has climbed back to $59,000 as of this morning, EAT. Divide this into 100 million, and each satoshi still goes for only $0.00059. To share sats freely and without requiring KYC (it doesn't require KYC), people need to run, at the very least, lighting network/LN nodes. But these are expensive. So, the next best alternative is to use LN apps which charge a few fees. Now, imagine a poster with something like an SSID or a QR code for a WiFi network, except it gives out some free satoshis every, say 10 minutes. Say, 100 sats. This isn't life-changing money. But it is free, and if legally authorized (as has to be for any crypto project today), it could be something done as a 24/7 autonomous charity system. After downloading the required BiFi app, scan the QR code or input the SSID, and voila, enjoy you receive 100 sats. No need to enter your name, no need for an ID, nothing. Just like WiFi. You get the password, and you enjoy. What Could Happen? The Bitcoin community is not growing quickly because very few people are getting some sats on their phones. There is the orange-pilling arc, and I am lucky to have dived in because of it. But I needed to be sent some sats by a Machankura ambassador. And being a content writer perhaps, I later found a way to earn more sats, hence, participating more. The rest is history. A lot of people might be like me. Others, might only need to touch some sats and see how uncomplicated holding some can be. And by extension, all crypto tokens can be WiFi-d. But Bitcoin is my thing. Because it is scarce. So, this will be true charity work. Circa 2025, there might be a “bank run” on the Bitcoin blockchain. The price will shoot up from $70k to $200k. Demand will be through the roof! Don't Airdrop It, Wi-Fi It. No need to shill anybody online. No marketing campaign needed. Simply, give it to people, and see what they do. Yes, you could later put out a data collection form for those who have been orange-pilled. Later, not before. It will go a long way to spread this goodness everywhere. Flaws and all.

BiFi - Bitcoin Sats Given as Freely as WiFi

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