Picture a taxis in the foreseeable future. Most of its manual controls conveniently and neatly hidden or outrightly taken out. The seats would be able to swirl around and facing each other. The vehicle would be fully automatic and self driven(the tech for self driving cars would likely have been perfected then) and it would be for the most part, safe.

If and perhaps, when these self driving cars fully become a thing and gets fused in and used in the transportation system. It might just go a long way, having some effect on transportation and in general, vehicular moment.

If this catches on, as it very well might, it could lead to less cars on the road as people might find it more convenient than to own and maintain a car when you could call for a taxi and have a self driving car pull-up to your door.

You wouldn’t have to put up with irrelevant and sometimes, unwanted chit chat with a driver. Just input your destination, sit back and enjoy the ride alone or together with some friends or whoever.

I would love to know your thoughts on this.

   Btc is by far the most transacted and most preferred coin out there but in a spirit of fairness, I used cryptocurrency to include other alt coins.

Cryptocurrencies over the years has risen to a new height; a height that the global markets cannot turn a blind eye to. There is a slow and gradual adoption of cryptocurrencies in the financial markets. Big corporations, institutions and facilities are now slowly and gradually adopting its use either for the transaction or commerce or/and in the acceptance of payments for services rendered.
There is a massive growth in the rise of cryptocurrencies and bitcoin in particular as it stands out from the rest because it is widely accepted.

     Economic woes like inflation and recession has proven that the fiat can quickly lose its value and become somewhat useless to its holder and that has helped fueled the drive for individuals and corporations to acquire, hold and/or transact business with.
There was a boost in the adoption and use of cryptocurrencies in the last few years especially during the recent covid pandemic. With lockdowns in effect in almost every country on earth, there were shortages in the production of goods and services rendered. Demand increased and with very little supply, prices of available goods and services went ridiculously high.
Cryptocurrency played a key role in these times in helping to reduce hunger and starvation as donations were made using bitcoin and was also used in the transaction of business. This increased the drive to acquire and hold Cryptocurrency as a store of value.

     There is a continuous growth and adoption in its use as organizations, large corporations and individuals today are adopting and utilizing its uses. Cryptocurrency growth and adoption for digital transactions would only get bigger.
The era where fiat  is only used for all commercial transactions is coming to an end.

You could ONLY send and receive TONCOIN on the app. And you could also buy bitcoin on the app through the "wallet" section on there. Users now could send and receive toncoin and could also buy bitcoin on the app. Another breakthrough in the slow but gradual process of bitcoin adoption worldwide.

The Russian prime minister has claimed that Russians collectively hold more 10 trillion rubles($130b) in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. Lots of Russians probably bought bitcoin when it seemed like the ruble was going to nosedive due to the expected sanctions at the early phases of the war while some are buying cryptocurrencies to be able to get money out of the country

Note: This is a claim
Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/russians-collectively-hold-130b-in-crypto-prime-minister-says

Central African Republic has become the second country in the world to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender. It has also become the first African country to see and utilize the potential that bitcoin has to offer. This move enables its citizens to pay taxes as well as transact commercial activities with bitcoin. This is the slow gradual process of bitcoin adoption worldwide.
Attached below Is a link where you could read up more on it

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/.amp/business/the-central-african-republic-adopts-bitcoin-as-legal-tender

Russia has carried out its threat to shut off gas supplies to countries that has refused to pay in roubles. It has cut off gas supply delivery to both Poland and Bulgaria. I had earlier mentioned that Russia had threatened to shut off gas supplies to countries that has refused to pay in roubles and now, it has made good its threat by shutting off gas delivery to both Poland and Bulgaria. The EU has responded saying this is gas blackmail while gas prices has increased by 20%. Russia says the move is in response to both countries refusing to pay in roubles while the roubles gains about a percent to the dollar.

I'm happy to say that I am no longer in the newbie rank. I can remember being ashamed of the newbie rank glaring on my profile. I soon got used to it and then ignored it and focused on growing my knowledge on btc and crypto in general. I can say I've learnt a whole lot with loads more to learn. Learning is a continuous process and I look forward to growing in continuous knowledge and information sharing here in the forum.

Telling a fib today is considered harmless and most people seem to lie so quickly and are very good at it too. We all know lying isn't good anyway it's being looked at but we all indulge in it and very frequently too. And today, it is considered harmless and a little white lie; almost innocent lol.
Can we as humans ever stop telling lies?

I had recently been thinking about how really safe bitcoins or/and other alt coins are when stored in your wallet.
With fiat currency, financial institutions; mostly banks go all out with the notion that their institutions are safe and their vaults are top notch yet they still fall prey to bank robbers who would cart away valuables from the vault.
How safe then are the wallets used in storing coins? And if they could at any time and in any way be compromised hence losing your bitcoins

What happens when too much power is given to one individual? Autocracy slowly and gradually creeps in.
Power should belong to the people as it is the people that is being governed. It is the people who elects principal officials into sensitive positions that can affect either positively or negatively. And that is why power isn't held by an individual. Russia may be considered as running a democracy cause they hold elections in which the people appear to have a say in who governs them but the actions of the present government tends to say otherwise. Laws are being put in place to silence and tighten the grip the government has on the general populace. The news media is heavily censored and citizens cannot have accurate news but propaganda that the government spreads in order to deceive the people.
Too much power shouldn't be in one individuals hand cause most likely, there would be misuse of that power.
Power corrupts but absolute power corrupts absolutely

Bitcoin remains to be adopted by every country in the world for various reasons. Here are my thoughts on why..

1. Government policies: Most government and financial institutions round the world seem not to want bitcoin cause of the financial freedom it gives to its users. They would want to control and tax the flow of finances of individuals and they probably fear the anonymous nature of its transactions. Some policies even go as far as criminalizing its use.

2. Scammers and fraudulent practices: Scammers have found bitcoin as a safe haven cause of its transactions being anonymous. Also, terrorist groups among other sources get funded by bitcoin also cause of its anonymous nature. Fraudulent practices and transactions are made with ease wth the use of bitcoin.

3. Fluctuating value: The value of bitcoin isn't steady as it rises and falls. The uncertainty in the price and value greatly hinders the general adoption worldwide.

4. Awareness: Nearly not enough effort on creating and spreading positive awareness on it as some government and individuals alike is hell bent on spreading negativity around and poisoning the minds of prospective users. People need to be aware and understand what bitcoin is really about and be awake to its uses.

5. Information hoarding: You could get lots of information about anything on the internet including bitcoin. But the internet can be misleading to newbies cause you could get right and wrong and also misleading information on the internet. It puzzles me that people with an in depth knowledge of bitcoin would purposefully hoard and keep information to themselves. You may think people don't hoard information but in reality, people do. It irksome just thinking about it. If people could share information, newbies won't readily fall prey to scammers.

These are my thoughts on what's preventing bitcoin from being adapted worldwide.

Yemens civil war that has gone on for more or less 8 years may have an ending in the nearest future with the ceasefire that has just been agreed upon. Peace talks has been ongoing in Saudi Arabia and a ceasefire has been agreed for 2 months. The war torn country has been fighting a civil war since 2014 with hundreds of thousands of lives and billions in infrastructure lost to the fighting. Political instability coupled with humanitarian,food and medical crisis has been rocking the country for years. There's an old proverb that says "when the elephant fights, the grass suffers". The people of Yemen has for long suffered the brunt of the war. Hopefully the ceasefire in place would lead to more constructive talks and a final solution to the crisis would be put in place. With the senseless fighting stopped, the world would watch Yemen grow.

Putin has threatened so called unfriendly states to pay in rubles or have its gas supply shut off. It has said it doesn't buy things for free and so isn't going to charitable with its energy.
Europe has kicked against this with Germany saying its being blackmailed by this move. What other choice does Europe has with Russia alone selling about 40% of energy to the world.

Btc has remained a mystery to the uninformed. People with little or no information are ignorant about everything cryptocurrency and tend to be biased or flat out wrong when sharing information in their local circles. Having little or no knowledge in this, they would be swayed to believe whatever news suits their narrative irrespective of it being right or wrong. Btc,bring a mystery could also be exciting to some people and in their ignorance, would go into the cryptocurrency space with little or no information and would get cheated, duped and scammed and would then conclude that it was a sham all along. Not too long ago, I was among the lot that was ill-informed and got taught a hard lesson. Now, I'm taking it slow, getting new information and doing my own research.
I think people fear and react negatively to what they do not understand

I love bitcoin but still fairly new to everything. Was hasty and ignorant and had made an investment that turned out to be a sham. Bad experience but learning from it also. I read through the forum rules and happy to know that it's tightly moderated to intelligent discussions.
I know bitcoin works and always seeking any information. 
Can't wait to get rid of the glaring newbie on my profile

It's been  established that during a conflict or a huge crisis of any sort, hard cash is nowhere to be found or would be of very little value.
The ongoing energy crisis, being an economic problem trickles down and  affects the life of the ordinary person. Jobs lost, Prices of goods, services rendered would get really pricey or/and they wouldn't be any money in people's hands at all.
With btc, the ordinary person could avoid the backlash of these crisis and come out fine. Hopefully people would realize that hard cash can't be trusted all the time and look elsewhere, perhaps to btc.

Sanctions being slammed on Russia no doubt is a major cause of the energy crisis and inflation experienced by all countries that directly or indirectly had Russia, a major supplier of energy as it's supplier.
Russia along with a host of countries are definitely feeling the impacts of these sanctions

Oil prices are through the roof!! The supply of energy has been drastically cut leaving demand exponentially high. Energy demands of any country,when not being met definitely results in inflation and a sharp decline in the standard of living.
Energy the life force of a nation affects every aspect of the workings and growth of the nation and when scarce increases the cost of manufacturing, producing, nothing is spared.
Developed countries are feeling its impact while developing countries are probably going through some really hard time now.