I am not questioning your command of language, nor your competence to write a Whitepaper, by any means; but, I can't help but wonder that you have made 48 posts without scoring a merit.

Writing a Whitepaper does call for some writing ability; and that should've shone through your posts to get you at least one merit on some post, and a Junior Member status.

It's all FUD. Exactly like the FUD surrounding Bitcoin.

We need to summon courage, and build up our nerves, be brave to enter this exciting new world of AI. A glorious phase in the history of humanity is about to begin.

Call it the golden dawn of a new humanity, or whatever. Names do not matter. What matters is that we participate and win!
 

OP's talking about the noble game of CRICKET, not Football!

I think that beyond a certain level of application complexity, it will boil down to the vigour of the societal environment in which that AI functions. A politically free society such as the USA would naturally fare better on this score, far ahead of the shackled masses that are the norm in China.

Therefore, the outcome of this competition is a no contest win for the USA by several laps and a mile, if not more.

You are very wrong on that count, good Sir. Historically, especially during the first world war, there was a lot of suspicion about the German origin soldiers in the US Army as the fight was against Germans in Europe. But, their American-ness won the day, and they fought with more gusto than the rest of the lot.

Recently, there was the "Islamist/ pan-Islamic" scare, but the Muslims of America proved resistant to that call, even as Europe crumbled.

Therefore, it is almost inevitable that the American Chinese with origins in Mainland China would fulfil their duty, and more, for the US Army when called upon to fight the Chinese Communist People's Liberation Army (PLA).

In fact, I'd recommend that the next time a US Naval warship undertakes a "freedom of navigation" voyage in the South China Sea, they take along some Mainland China origin Chinese Americans (whether regular sailors or temporary conscripts). Then, at the height of imminent confrontation, let these Chinese origin sailors man the decks, and blare out loud from loud-hailers in their fluent Mainland Mandarin diction. The thought that now it is Chinese settled in America fighting against the Communist PLA Navy would be extremely disquieting to the Communists and rattle the nerves of the PLA Navy. The PLA Generals sitting in their Peking offices will no doubt draw the appropriate comparison with how the German origin American soldiers destroyed the German Wehrmacht in both World Wars.

Your title is kinda misleading. You should've used the term "transgender" instead.

When you said "Spain sends a man", I was like, WTF, isn't there a Mr Universe contest that would've been more appropriate.

But, the photo you've attached shows the reality.

Personally, I do find it queasy; but then everyone is entitled to their opinion, and if the Spaniards think it's totally legit, what locus standi do I possess, or who am I to question!

Ripple (XRP) is NOT Blockchain. (period)

Well, it's already a few days past that 7 October deadline, and no news yet.   

Here's the link from which I gleaned this particular nugget:

https://qz.com/india/1418897/after-strangling-bitcoin-india-may-launch-its-own-cryptocurrency/amp/

The particularly relevant part runs as follows:

“The panel is also discussing amendment of the Currency Act to make possession of any cryptocurrency, not approved by the government, a punishable offence,” said the government official.

Happy days ahead for Bitcoin if it ends up on the "approved" list, as I guess it well might. Reason: too many Bitcoin hodlers in the political class and the bureaucracy!

I've been wearing ADIDAS sneakers for as long as I remember.

Back then, people used to joke, this was how the brand got it's name:

ADIDAS = All Dames In Darmstadt Are Sexy

Some would interject, Detroit, Dublin, Delhi, Dubai!

Like all the others are saying; only I'm SCREAMING this out to You:

GO SEE AN OPHTHALMOLOGIST, A.S.A.P.

Apart from all the ideological deficiencies of socialism; practically speaking, it means endless waiting in queues, petty bribery, and perpetual corruption. Socialism also fosters a culture of corruption that saps the moral character of the youth. Most importantly, socialism breeds the "welfare queen" temperament, where everyone feels the government is taking care, so nobody does any work; and there is inefficiency and breakdown everywhere. Finally, the "guaranteed job" feature of socialism prevents individual initiative and fosters mediocrity. The mass of indolent socialists rudely suppress the few sparks of efficiency in their midst that seek to excel, driven by their inner spirit.

Some people point out the success of Scandinavian countries in running an efficient socialist polity, and also Great Britain and Canada for their National Health Service (NHS). But, the Scandinavian countries are all founded in an ancient Christian culture that is conducive to fostering socialism, they all have a homogenous ethnicity, and are small states that can be easily governed. Likewise, Britain and Canada too have an ancient Christian culture, and a more or less homogenous majoritarian ethnicity.

In states with a non-Christian culture, socialism has uniformly proven disastrous. Even in countries with a Christian culture, there are sore spots like Venezuela, that expose socialism's true evil face.

The solution then is to have capitalism with a Christian conscience: universal health care, free education even upto college level, and the government strengthening infrastructure and taking care of the environment. Without the core seed of Christian conscience in their character, establishments, whether socialist or capitalist, are doomed to self-destruct like the Former Soviet Union (FSU).

For advance payments, say for booking a reservation, Bitcoin is very practical. But, where instant confirmation of the transaction is needed, say for an over-the-counter purchase of candy, it might be difficult if the customer isn't previously known to the store clerk.

So, for transactions between untrusting strangers that need instantaneous verification, Bitcoin needs to have some kind of system in place if it's claim to be a currency is to be seriously considered.

Yes, it is entirely possible to earn merit even on the Off-Topic sub-forum. The only criterion is that your post needs to be interesting, relevant, and full of useful content. Sometimes, a thread sparks your passion, and you write an answer from the heart. If your post strikes a chord with some sMerit holding person, they will award you merits on any sub-forum here, even on Off-Topic.

I remember Stripe used to accept Bitcoin. I don't know their present policy about it, so, you can take a look at their offerings if you are in a country where they do business.

It seems to me that you have two entirely different streams. If the membership is based on fiat, then there's no reason any payment gateway would refuse your business.

Since the tokens generated on your site are used only for in-site stuff, they are basically User Points, and there's no reason for a payment processor to get involved in that stream. These points you will need to administer through your own Content Management System (CMS); and there's no reason to involve a payment processor in this part of your ops.

I am familiar with the User Points system in Drupal 7 CMS, but there are also several other competitors.

You forgot to add a few more adjectives. Here goes: anarchists, libertarians, gamers, warez folk

There is no scientific proof of this, neither will any ever be forthcoming. If at all, you will find evidence aplenty that establishes the redundancy of the notion if 'deity' in our modern, scientific world.

It's all over the news that China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has been running a covert program of implanting spy chips in motherboards. These devices are very small and go unnoticed. They have been thought to affect Apple and IBM and even US Government and Pentagon computing systems and networks.

Since the computing hardware for Bitcoin is pretty much similar, it's entirely possible that the PLA can hack the Bitcoin system through these devices. But, what can they achieve in the Bitcoin ecosystem, apart from revealing the identities of the transactors? Would it be possible for them to corrupt the wallets, or hack the exchanges, or even successfully carry out a 51 percent attack? What other hacks can they achieve on the Bitcoin (and all Altcoins in general) ecosystem?

This is the one thing I don't quite understand about the talk of Bitcoin's "scarcity value". Sure, "21 million coins only" does give the impression of scarcity prima facie. But then, each coin is divisible to the tune of one hundred million Satoshis. While currently, there's no way to transact a single Satoshi without paying significantly more transaction fees, if 1 BTC reaches US$ 200K as some analysts speculate, then even that won't remain a miniscule transaction anymore.

Thus, in effect, rather than there being 21 million Bitcoins in circulation, the effective value would qualify as: there being 2,100 trillion Satoshis in circulation. This is way beyond the wildest, furthest estimates of total global money supply.

Why then the talk about Bitcoin being in scarce supply?

Maybe so, but they can confiscate those assets if someone "convinces" them that these are not legally tenable assets. If your Cryptocurrency hodlings are interpreted as "trespassing" on economic sovereignty, then the European governments will need necessarily intervene, if only for the sake of preservation of their own sovereignty.

Remember, nothing in life is certain, except for death and taxes; and the Government, whether that be Vietnamese, or European, or even Canadian, Maltese, Singaporean, or American, has the power to deliver both: at your doorstep, or at your footstep.

So, yes, invariably, ALL Governments are really scary institutions. All the talk of democracy, liberty, etc is the camouflage to mask that primal core of bestiality.