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Architectural Designs

A Short History of the World, by H. G. Wells, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . THE AGE OF MAMMALS THE AGE OF MAMMALS The opening of the next great period in the life of the earth, the Cainozoic period, was a period of upheaval and extreme volcanic activity. Now it was that the vast masses of the Alps and Himalayas and the mountain backbone of the Rockies and Andes were thrust up, and that the rude outlines of our present oceans and continents appeared. The map of the world begins to display a first dim resemblance to the map of to-day. It is estimated now that between forty and eighty million years have elapsed from the beginnings of the Cainozoic period to the present time. At the outset of the Cainozoic period the climate of the world was austere. It grew generally warmer until a fresh phase of great abundance was reached, after which conditions grew hard again and the earth passed into a series of extremely cold cycles, the Glacial Ages, from which apparently it is now slowly emerging. But we do not know sufficient of the causes of climatic change at present to forecast the possible fluctuations of climatic conditions that lie before us. We may be moving towards increasing sunshine or lapsing towards another glacial age; volcanic activity and the upheaval of mountain masses may be increasing or diminishing; we do not know; we lack sufficient science. With the opening of this period the grasses appear; for the first time there is pasture in the world; and with the full development of the once obscure mammalian type, appear a number of interesting grazing animals and of carnivorous types which prey upon these. At first these early mammals seem to differ only in a few characters from the great herbivorous and carnivorous reptiles that ages before had flourished and then vanished from the earth. A careless observer might suppose that in this second long age of warmth and plenty that was now beginning, nature was merely repeating the first, with herbivorous and carnivorous mammals to parallel the herbivorous and carnivorous dinosaurs, with birds replacing pterodactyls and so on. But this would be an altogether superficial comparison. The variety of the universe is infinite and incessant; it progresses eternally; history never repeats itself and no parallels are precisely true. The differences between the life of the Cainozoic and Mesozoic periods are far profounder than the resemblances. A MAMMAL OF THE EARLY CAINOZOIC PERIOD The Titanotherum (Brontops) Robustum The most fundamental of all these differences lies in the mental life of the two periods. It arises essentially out of the continuing contact of parent and offspring which distinguishes mammalian and in a lesser degree bird life, from the life of the reptile. With very few exceptions the reptile abandons its egg to hatch alone. The young reptile has no knowledge whatever of its parent; its mental life, such as it is, begins and ends with its own experiences. It may tolerate the existence of its fellows but it has no communication with them; it never imitates, never learns from them, is incapable of concerted action with them. Its life is that of an isolated individual. But with the suckling and cherishing of young which was distinctive of the new mammalian and avian strains arose the possibility of learning by imitation, of communication, by warning cries and other concerted action, of mutual control and instruction. A teachable type of life had come into the world. The earliest mammals of the Cainozoic period are but little superior in brain size to the more active carnivorous dinosaurs, but as we read on through the record towards modern times we find, in every tribe and race of the mammalian animals, a steady universal increase in brain capacity. For instance we find at a comparatively early stage that rhinoceros-like beasts appear. There is a creature, the Titanotherium, which lived in the earliest division of this period. It was probably very like a modern rhinoceros in its habits and needs. But its brain capacity was not one tenth that of its living successor. The earlier mammals probably parted from their offspring as soon as suckling was over, but, once the capacity for mutual understanding has arisen, the advantages of continuing the association are very great; and we presently find a number of mammalian species displaying the beginnings of a true social life and keeping together in herds, packs and flocks, watching each other, imitating each other, taking warning from each other’s acts and cries. This is something that the world had not seen before among vertebrated animals. Reptiles and fish may no doubt be found in swarms and shoals; they have been hatched in quantities and similar conditions have kept them together, but in the case of the social and gregarious mammals the association arises not simply from a community of external forces, it is sustained by an inner impulse. They are not merely like one another and so found in the same places at the same times; they like one another and so they keep together. STENOMYLUS HITCHCOCKI—A GIRAFFE-CAMEL Nat. Hist. Mus. SKELETON OF PROTOHIPPUS VENTICOLUS--EARLY HORSE Nat. Hist. Mus. This difference between the reptile world and the world of our human minds is one our sympathies seem unable to pass. We cannot conceive in ourselves the swift uncomplicated urgency of a reptile’s instinctive motives, its appetites, fears and hates. We cannot understand them in their simplicity because all our motives are complicated; our’s are balances and resultants and not simple urgencies. But the mammals and birds have self-restraint and consideration for other individuals, a social appeal, a self- control that is, at its lower level, after our own fashion. We can in consequence establish relations with almost all sorts of them. When they suffer they utter cries and make movements that rouse our feelings. We can make understanding pets of them with a mutual recognition. They can be tamed to self-restraint towards us, domesticated and taught. COMPARATIVE SIZES OF BRAINS OF RHINOCEROS AND DINOCERAS Nat. Hist. Mus. That unusual growth of brain which is the central fact of Cainozoic times marks a new communication and interdependence of individuals. It foreshadows the development of human societies of which we shall soon be telling. As the Cainozoic period unrolled, the resemblance of its flora and fauna to the plants and animals that inhabit the world to-day increased. The big clumsy Uintatheres and Titanotheres, the Entelodonts and Hyracodons, big clumsy brutes like nothing living, disappeared. On the other hand a series of forms led up by steady degrees from grotesque and clumsy predecessors to the giraffes, camels, horses, elephants, deer, dogs and lions and tigers of the existing world. The evolution of the horse is particularly legible upon the geological record. We have a fairly complete series of forms from a small tapir-like ancestor in the early Cainozoic. Another line of development that has now been pieced together with some precision is that of the llamas and camels. 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. H. G. Wells (2011). A Short History of the World. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022, from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/11870/11870-h/11870-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 www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html .

THE AGE OF MAMMALS

THE SPIRITED HONEYMOON

In Part I of this series I presented my take on the ICO bubble as CEO of a company in the middle of the ICO process . In this companion piece I present post-ICO insights on what it takes to run a professional ICO at the end of 2017. In part III, I’ll present my predictions for the ICO market in 2018. OpenST, aka the project, recently raised $21 million from 6871 buyers in what has become known as an initial coin offering or “ICO.” Through a ton of hard work, many heroic efforts, an incredibly supportive community, and some good luck, . Simple Token we achieved 189% of our initial target Since our token sale ended on 1 December, , and we’ve had a fairly good Needless to say, the ICO results surpassed even our wildest expectations. the price of ETH has increased dramatically market debut for “OST.” Behind the scenes though, it was a hair-raising process, as we tried to avoid hype, dampen speculation, abide by conservative legal and regulatory guidance, shut down any discussion of Simple Token as an investment, and dodge all manner of quick-buck artists and other unsavory characters. There’s this prevailing myth in startup circles that ICO’s are easy. These days it seems like everyone wants to ICO (and thinks they can). I want to make clear: The Simple Token ICO was hands-down the most challenging and most exhausting eight months of my entire professional career, and pulling off a successful ICO is very hard, very costly, and for good reason increasingly difficult. Towards Minimum Standards for Good ICO’s Eight months ago when we first contemplated the Simple Token ICO, it really was a wild, wild, westICOworld. Thanks to fantastic legal and regulatory advice from our partners at King Wood & Mallesons and Perkins Coie, we voluntarily embraced a set of criteria for “professional” utilty token ICO’s that — while erring on the conservative side when we began — are now rapidly becoming the minimum standards (presented as a series of topics and questions) for all “good” ICO’s throughout the industry. What is the actual product utility of the token? Why is the token needed in order for the proposed software to function? Clear Product Utility. Can you prove it? The utility of the token must be proven, demonstrable, and replicable by others before holding the token sale. The source code for the protocol must be made available via open source. A demo of the token utility in-action on a must be presented. And, any developer should be able to replicate the demo and implement it. Minimum Viable Utility Established Before Tokens Are Sold. blockchain Why is a blockchain uniquely necessary for the solution? — i.e., the “secret sauce.” In other words, what is it about blockchain that uniquely enables the solution? Blockchain Required. How is the token not just a cute substitute for fiat? You should not be able to just replace the token with fiat (or ETH or BTC) and accomplish the same functions. If the only value ascribed to the token is as a payment rail, it’s a currency not a utility. Token Required. How does the project adhere to key blockchain principle such as open and decentralized? (where technology allows for it.) Blockchain Principles. Is there a viable token economic model for how the token will be used and how ongoing demand for the token will be derived? Beyond speculative demand, how will real product demand for the token be driven? Product Driven Token Economics. How will your project actually work on a Blockchain? What is your solution for solving the scalability challenges of existing public Blockchains? Scalability. You must be prepared to shun all forms of speculation about your token as an investment vehicle and avoid all references to secondary markets. Your Token is Not a Stock. Not every ICO today adheres to the standards above, but increasingly the professionally run ICO’s do. My bet is that these 8 standards (and more) become the absolute minimum for any reputable law firm to support and put their stamp on an ICO in early 2018. Inside the Simple Token ICO In hopes of shining a light on the actual “costs” and efforts involved in ICO’ing, below I provide a behind-the-scenes summary of what it actually takes to hold a professional ICO at the end of 2017: Our token sale was the result of two years of planning and development. We raised $3.7M in venture capital early in our product lifecycle and took on $1M more in founder debt prior to the ICO. It took us eight months to get from the point of “we’re definitely going to ICO” to the launch of the token sale. Not including product development costs incurred prior to August 2017, we spent about $2M on preparations for our token sale, with the largest chunks going to technology, legal, token economy planning, security, and marketing. $500K was spent on legal fees alone. More than 30 full-time in-house resources worked on the project, assisted by 40+ extended team members, two major law firms, a big four accounting firm, three economists, and a dozen part-time community managers. We recruited an entire team from an established Blockchain project to join our mission. We published a version of our white paper three months before the token sale; as well as a ; ; , and . 65 page “pitch deck” 36 page written technical white paper 6 side-papers providing deep dives into technical, token economics and governance topics 8 YouTube videos 25+ Medium articles We provided . more than 100,000 responses to community members’ inquiries on Telegram We conceptualized, developed, and open sourced which enables consumer-volume transactions on a Blockchain. the OpenST protocol We sought out legal and regulatory guidance from lawyers in more than ten countries and the European Union, and worked with lawyers in each of those countries to prepare for our sale. As per guidance from our lawyers, we delayed our token sale until we were able to demonstrate protocol-level utility that any developer could replicate. I left home my home in Berlin in July to mobilize our global team and to engage the blockchain community, and then spent at most 20 nights in my own bed between then and 8 December. Several of our team members lived abroad for the final 60 day stretch during which about 5 hours of sleep per night, 7 days per week, was the norm. Published 3 smart contracts for the token sale and 4 helper contracts. Had those contracts (and all our websites, FAQ’s, emails, and registration processes) . audited by 3 external smart contract auditors Designed and utilized a 47 page internal document for token sale key management and managed more than 100 internal keys for the token sale administration. Key Management is key. Our test suite had . These tests also covered the operational contracts that formed a circuit-breaker between the Ethereum smart contracts and our backend systems. The deployment and sale process was integrated into our staging and production systems. 304 unit tests Ran four successful dry-run tests on Ropsten testnet, followed by four successful dry-run sequences on Ethereum mainnet. After each run we exhaustively verified the sequence against our 42 page long process document outlining all possible steps in detail. Like with a fire drill all team members know in-depth how the sale process will unfold. Token sale smart contracts had . Each contract must always at construction be initialised with an owner address. The ownership of Simple Token, Token Sale, and Trustee contracts has no functional ability but is the address that can override the admin address. Each contract owner address holds no tokens and is a with three separate hardware keys, held by three OpenST Foundation board members in three different physical vaults across the world. three permission levels “break-glass-in-case-of-emergency” Gnosis 2-out-3 multi-sig wallet . Signed up 7 customers for our solution pre-ICO Built our own KYC front end registration process and back-end and admin tools completely from-scratch, on top of a blue chip 3rd party provider’s database. Our tight integration and flexible admin tools enabled us to process KYC requests in under 4 minutes during the height of our ICO. Processed more than 40,000 signups on our and our homegrown email drip-campaign platform sent more than 700,000 emails! token sale webpage More than during the ICO. 100,000 YouTube views Realized a couple of days into our token sale that nearly everyone who interacted with our team directly in telegram, and who learned about the OpenST protocol utility and potential of the Simple Token project, ended up purchasing. We then turned our entire focus towards a funnel to Telegram project education. Grew our from 500 members in October to more than 7500 active members by end of the token sale. Telegram channel Responded “you should purchase simple tokens to use simple tokens, and not as an investment,” and “we cannot comment about exchanges” more than 5000 times on telegram. Listed on more than 30 ICO rating sites. Fought off dozens of highly sophisticated scammers who tried to con our community into sending ETH to their accounts. This was a huge undertaking during the token sale; if you’re considering holding a token sale and you have not planned for this, feel free to get in touch with me and I’ll gladly provide some pointers. Participated in more than a dozen podcasts and videos with community commentators. crypto Consumed 97 egg sandwiches, 212 tubs of hummus, and too much chai and diet coke to count. 4 shaved heads (don’t ask). I’m sure there’s so much more that I left out — the above is just a taste of what was involved. (I’ll continue to update the post as the team and I remember more of the details). And, above all, we are fortunate and lucky to have had the opportunity to connect with the most amazing community of believers and supporters of our long term mission to bring the benefits of crypto to mainstream businesses and consumers. We promise to be even more engaged going forward.

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