NEM (XEM) Official Thread - 100% New Code - Easy To Use APIs

[jabo38]

lordoliver - But if people don't know about cryptos how where they able to take part in the NEM that was given away at the start of the project?

As far as I am concerned it's not the most fair thing to all people in the world, but at its time it was the most fair crypto ever in the cryptosphere. Still is too. That in itself is a big deal. NEM was heavily advertised within the cryptosphere. Really at this point in time that is the realistic best anybody could have achieved.

[makoto1337]

Just so no one is fooled, I am Makoto1337 not makotol337 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=372714).

makotol337 is sending messages to people claiming to be me. My profile is https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=220156

BTT is full of scammers, so be careful.

[makoto1337]

I just gonna drop it here. free to use if anyone found it useful.

Awesome. I'm interested in knowing how you made that

@makoto1337, thanks for asking. the short answer to that is that I used Maya for modeling, texturing, and lighting, Nuke for composting, and photoshop for minor adjustment.  

I just gonna drop it here. free to use if anyone found it useful.

golden rain .nice

@smith coins, Thanks!

I just gonna drop it here. free to use if anyone found it useful.

Magical!! I am impressed!
This should be in the newsletter front cover!

@rockethead, thank you! I am glad you found it useful.

Great. I used Maya as well. Care to share the model you made?

I don't mind. How do I send it to you?

You can upload it somewhere and send a link to crowdsale@altnemo.com ?

You can always put it on github if it is less than 100mb per file and if you don't mind it being open.

[makoto1337]

lordoliver - But if people don't know about cryptos how where they able to take part in the NEM that was given away at the start of the project?

amytheplanarshift - thank you for the civilized reply. I agree about POI, that is what drew me to NEM. I understand there could be no 100% equal opportunity, all I am saying is that why are people against giving away some NEM to those who don't know what crypto can do for them or to those that can't afford it? I am not talking about giving them full stakes, just a small amount.

What if some of the development funds  goes to making an online store that sells NEM t-shirts (someone already made some nice ones), usb sticks, keychains, coffee mugs, just some small items that won't cost much to get made and shipped out so people that are new to cryptos can see how fast and easy it is to use. I think people learn faster by doing instead of being told. I haven't put much thought in to this idea so I am sure there are some faults with it.

If NEM is truly a movement then we should try to help as many as we can.

its all good and well wanting to do that.. but how do you decide who to give some nem to? how do you decide between joe and john? so it falls back to equal opportunity.. if we say we will give free nem to the first 1000 random people who join website x or something, then the original argument of "people don't know about cryptos the give away so how where they able to take part in the NEM the give away" can also be applied to the solution you put forward for that very same problem.. there is no solution to that problem other than what amy put forward which is obviously a pointless effort.

nothing will ever be completely fair and no not everyone will ever get "equal opportunity" but doing things the way nem has done so far seems to be the best procedure thus far when your intention is inclusion of the largest number of people in the most "equal" way possible with out bias towards the wealth of the users.

in terms of setting up a shop selling mugs and key chains so regular joe saop can use nem.. well tbh joe soap couldnt give two sh%ts about key chains mugs or USB's from the "Nem shop". to get joe soap interested, nem would need to have everyday utility.. in order for nem to have the utility required for joe soap to make use or even care about nem we need huge infrastructure to be built up for nem and for sevices that joe soap cares about to make use of the nem protocol. in order for this infrastructure to built we need to bring in those who can build it and support nem in their existing platforms.. joe soap cant do that.. so trying to get joes soap involved at this stage is ludicrous. we need to bring in first those who can build the required infrastructure and setting up a shop or giving away a couple nem to people who have no idea about crypto is NOT going to get the infrastructure built.

i see it as steps on a stair case.. first you need to build the foundations being the code and the original community.. then you move on to bringing in other people(investors, coders, business men) from within the crypto niche in order to grow the base network effect and the value of the coin(which is obviously highly important) and to also start building the infrastructure required. once nem reaches critical mass where so many people from with in crypto and on the outer boarders of crypto are involved in nem, investing, building infrastructure, coding new features, writing articles, spreading the word, growing the network effect through all the necessary avenues, and most of all building the foundations for which joe soap en masse can adopt nem, will joe soap actually start to see value and begin to adopt nem.

if we skip the steps in the middle, and start giving nem to joe soap so early the plan could fall flat on its face and fail miserably. aurora coin is a perfect example.. they handed out a shed load of their coins to thousands of joe soaps all getting equal amounts.. and where are they now?? those coins were DOA when they reached joe soap. and did joe soap give two hoots? no.. cos the infrastructure and services needed to make joe soap give a crap were not their and probably would never have been built because of the fact that the coins were just handed out to joe soaps all over iceland.

my point is.. leaping forward to hand out nem to how ever many joe soaps who know nothing about nem would most likely have little or no affect on the overall nem economy or maybe even a negative one. let the infrastructure be built, let services be created and let nem become actually useful in some way shape or form before handing them out like sweets to anyone who will take them because they will not appreciate what you have just given them in the slightest.. they will not see the potential.. and they most likely will not benefit the nem economy at all until they actually want nem..

A car won't help someone if they don't know how to drive or have a place to park it. We need to find a way to teach people to use cryptos to free themselves from economic oppression by the big banks and governments. Part of the "movement" of NEM should be to spread the word to those around you. It's be cool to use some of the unclaimed stakes to give out to people who spread the word, similar to how Stellar did it.

However, unlike Stellar, we should have some guarantee that unique people are really being reached and also we need to not just give NEM away, but rather give knowledge of how people can achieve financial freedom from corrupt institutions.

This is a hard problem to solve, but if anyone has any ideas, please post them.

[jabo38]

A car won't help someone if they don't know how to drive or have a place to park it. We need to find a way to teach people to use cryptos to free themselves from economic oppression by the big banks and governments. Part of the "movement" of NEM should be to spread the word to those around you. It's be cool to use some of the unclaimed stakes to give out to people who spread the word, similar to how Stellar did it.

However, unlike Stellar, we should have some guarantee that unique people are really being reached and also we need to not just give NEM away, but rather give knowledge of how people can achieve financial freedom from corrupt institutions.

This is a hard problem to solve, but if anyone has any ideas, please post them.
[/quote]

+1

As for distribution.  I guess they could be airdropped to uni students as uni emails are hard to come by, or distributed in person at major conferences. I'm not convinced either of these are a best practice, just brainstorming.

[gsxrl3oi]

As we discussed many times, the idea with NEM is not that all should be equal, rather everybody begins with an equal opportunity but the outcome is free to be determined by each one of us, based on productivity and contributions. Indeed, the idea of giving some stakes away and strategically target instrumental people was also discussed. The reason we thought about doing it is not because some people are famous and they somehow deserve to receive a stake, but rather because some people would add a lot of value to NEM if they would join. In fact, important angel investors, entrepreneurs, developers, media people and other such individuals are necessary in order to really take NEM from the crypto space to the real world. So for example if instead of paying for press releases and media campaign we would be able to target and get Ashton Kutcher(which is a celebrity turned startup angel investor) interested in NEM by giving him a stake - he would be able to add a huge amount of value to the project because of his connections and ability to open doors for NEM which would otherwise be either impossible to unlocked or possible to unlock after a long periods of time. Consider only what some tweets from him could do for NEM - he has 16.4 mil followers, imagine how many people would hear about NEM. Indeed strategically targeting such people could be an effective guerilla move which could add huge value to NEM. Not because of fame but because of hyper-productivity and effectiveness some individuals would bring with them by joining the project.

I understand this point of view. People who can have a positive influence and actually work towards the goals of NEM are different from random celebrities which is what I am against. If you are thinking about this route, Mark Cuban might be a good person to try and contact. He has said before publicly that he believes in cryptocurrency as a concept, but that he does not intend to invest or support Bitcoin because he is certain that something will come along that trumps it, and that there will likely be problems with BTC since it is the first technology of its kind (he is right). NEM could be something he might want to jump on board with, and he would be a very powerful person to bring into our community for sure.

This is a great Idea. Cuban has the computer background, he would be the best candidate for it.

[rockethead]

http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/29/6082195/the-fort-knox-of-bitcoin-xapo-wences-casares. Inspiring read!!

Yes indeed, and more confirmation of what we all have been reiterating here for sure.

Now, the real challenge we face is getting those billions of people to use NEM instead of Bitcoin. And no, not for our own benefit, but because NEM is simply better. If he does not want to see those billions of people who cannot have a bank account lose everything as he so desperately wants to prevent, then I think NEM is going to be the better solution. Bitcoin, as we have been talking about here, is inherently flawed. A 51% attack is ridiculously easy for any entity with enough cash to execute, and that alone is reason enough for me to be wary about putting too much of my finances into BTC as a safe store of value.

NEM, and I'm sure many other next-gen cryptocurrencies, are going to remedy that. We just have to educate people and show them why it's better. Bitcoin has the advantage in that it was the first to market, and the name is becoming known worldwide as we sit here in front of our computer screens at this very moment. NEM does not have that advantage, but that is up to us to change.

Yes Bitcoin is why all of us are here now but NEM is still in infancy. It'll take a long time for any crypto to dethrone BTC but it'll happen eventually and NEM sure has a great chance in doing that. NEM is Crypto 3.0, wonderful devs, it has 4 Billion coins(easy for ditribution) and a wonderful community. As you say, it only depends on us and we'll make it happen

I'm not sure I agree. A grassroots viral approach for the rest of the non-industrialized world could be incredibly successful. It all comes down to how easy you make things, and how well you promote through grassroots organizations. I have spoke to many people that say they'd get in to this stuff but they don't understand it. You have to put it in a context they understand. For example, if you want to get people that need to wire their kids money over seas in to it, then you make an app or front end that "Feels" that way in context for them but still uses the underlying block chain. If being the resident "pc guy" for my friends family and neighbors has taught me anything, its that low maintenance and ease of use is 99% of it to 90% of people. That is probably why the iPhone was so successful. I hated texting until I had an iphone. It was too alien to me (as ridiculous as that sounds but I know a lot of people that was true for).

Thanks for the article, @iaminitnow06. It seems the number of users have escalated to 6 million users. If you note what I have written a while ago here http://forum.nemcoin.com/index.php?topic=2352.msg4130#msg4130 and if you follow some of the various "long stories" that I have written over the last 3 months, you'd realise that whatever was said in the article by Wences Casares of Xapo is very much going to be in the NEM ecosystem with respect to the 6.5B people.

Before I go on, allow me to re-emphasize that NEM is NOT ONLY A CRYPTO COIN. NEM is a platform that seeds an ecosystem. NEM by itself is what we call a Crypto 2.0 at V1 launch.

The ambition of AltNemo is to make the entire ecosystem of NEM into a Crypto 3.0. Crypto 3.0 will take away some of the responsibilities of the likes of XAPO. The irony of the article is that he was talking about the underbanked and the unbanked. Why would the unbanked and underbanked need the services of a Fort Knox?

In my earlier articles I did allude to the underbanked and the unbanked that are going to be drivers for the use of cryptos. I maintain that they will in fact be the drivers of cryptos which coincides with Wences' conclusion.

These 6.5B people with their cell phones will be the drivers.  The projects of AltNemo coined by Makoto as epic was not without a reason. We've realized that mobile devices is the way to drive the usage of the NEM platform. Coupled with a tightly integrated Fast exchange with extended features, AltNemo will set itself apart from the rest of the world and create what we call Crypto 3.0.

AltNemo's design has some elements of the much discussed Supernet. AltNemo has an MWG embedded. AltNemo has a fast exchange. And most importantly, AltNemo's exchange has a different architecture to traditional exchanges like BTC-e, Cryptsy, etc. AltNemo does not store coins and AltNemo provides for fiat <-> crypto exchange.

The design architecture of AltNemo's epic projects are specifically tailored for the underbanked and unbanked. It also takes into consideration that the underbanked and unbanked most probably do not have smartphones or devices and therefore will require another means of transaction method.

Some has asked and think that this is all too quixotic and therefore do not think it will work as a solution. My answer is, things need not be complicated and can be simply designed. They are complicated only if one thinks they are. The design is not rocket science but the thought processes that have gone into it has been an 18-month affair. We hope to have more iterations of our design so that when we finally get to code it, it will be even simpler.

The development of these epic projects will take between 6 to 9 months before they can be put to great use. It can be done in parallel with the existing development of the NEM platform as the NCC is already open source. If we can start our development tomorrow, we should be able to see its launch by the 2nd. quarter 2015, perhaps shortly after the launch of V1.

So, I cannot help but to again plead with all you supporters of NEM out there to support the cause of AltNemo for a better NEM tomorrow. Donations are welcome, otherwise you can participate in the crowdsale . Please visit out website at www.altnemo.com.

[rockethead]

Someone reported that he was PMed to buy NEM Silvers and NEM gold at a cut price and was purporting to be sent by Makotol337. Please note that there are a lot of scammers in the forums and there are ingenious at creating names that closely resemble names that are genuine.

The Makoto that we know is Makoto1337 and not Makotol337. Do take note. Don't let greed blind you.

[Henrietta.UK]

i have thought a way to promote NEW.we can call people make a film or write stories to describe how NEW is and the we can give their shares depends on their behaviour

[okiefromokc]

So what this has boiled down to is instead of the NXT 71+ stake holders, NEM now has ~3000 stake holders with 96% of the NEM coins.   Only 4% of the NEM coins will be available for general distribution to Joe Public.  The only way that Joe Public will be able to acquire any NEM if by purchasing at an inflated cost.   This appears to be just another pump and potential dump of an alt-coin.   

I am not sure how long this post will last on this moderated thread, but for however long it does so be it.

okie

[devphp]

So what this has boiled down to is instead of the NXT 71+ stake holders, NEM now has ~3000 stake holders with 96% of the NEM coins.   Only 4% of the NEM coins will be available for general distribution to Joe Public.  The only way that Joe Public will be able to acquire any NEM if by purchasing at an inflated cost.   This appears to be just another pump and potential dump of an alt-coin.   

I am not sure how long this post will last on this moderated thread, but for however long it does so be it.

okie

Oh no, now NEM is blamed for unfair distribution! Who would've thunk this is possible?! This is never gonna end! Life is unfair, deal with it. Where do you guys even get these ideas of fairness from? And where did you ever see them work in real life, in any country or at any time? Amazing!

[foggy1011]

Just a quick suggestion, maybe we can have a TV show like The Big Bang Theory (I nerdy TV show) to have it on one of their episodes.  I play a board game call Settler of Catan, wasn't very popular at the time, however it was on a episode on The Big Bang Theory and it went viral.  I own a window cleaning business and when I go to houses, especially cottages, I see the game every where!!.  Just a thought.

[Althoelzer]

The best idea by far is a payment system for mobile devices. All those big cellphone-developers like Samsung are developing a payment system which should allow payments from everywhere for products.
So we should promote more and more altcoinnemo to collect enough money to develop apps, wallets and so on useable on smartphones.

[rigel]

Just a quick suggestion, maybe we can have a TV show like The Big Bang Theory (I nerdy TV show) to have it on one of their episodes.  I play a board game call Settler of Catan, wasn't very popular at the time, however it was on a episode on The Big Bang Theory and it went viral.  I own a window cleaning business and when I go to houses, especially cottages, I see the game every where!!.  Just a thought.

How can you convince the authors of The Big Bang Theory of insering NEM in an episode?
Do you have any contact with them?

[foggy1011]

Thats just 1 TV show, maybe offer them stakes or something, maybe some one here has connections to the hollywood business

[jabo38]

http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/29/6082195/the-fort-knox-of-bitcoin-xapo-wences-casares. Inspiring read!!

Yes indeed, and more confirmation of what we all have been reiterating here for sure.

Now, the real challenge we face is getting those billions of people to use NEM instead of Bitcoin. And no, not for our own benefit, but because NEM is simply better. If he does not want to see those billions of people who cannot have a bank account lose everything as he so desperately wants to prevent, then I think NEM is going to be the better solution. Bitcoin, as we have been talking about here, is inherently flawed. A 51% attack is ridiculously easy for any entity with enough cash to execute, and that alone is reason enough for me to be wary about putting too much of my finances into BTC as a safe store of value.

NEM, and I'm sure many other next-gen cryptocurrencies, are going to remedy that. We just have to educate people and show them why it's better. Bitcoin has the advantage in that it was the first to market, and the name is becoming known worldwide as we sit here in front of our computer screens at this very moment. NEM does not have that advantage, but that is up to us to change.

Yes Bitcoin is why all of us are here now but NEM is still in infancy. It'll take a long time for any crypto to dethrone BTC but it'll happen eventually and NEM sure has a great chance in doing that. NEM is Crypto 3.0, wonderful devs, it has 4 Billion coins(easy for ditribution) and a wonderful community. As you say, it only depends on us and we'll make it happen

I'm not sure I agree. A grassroots viral approach for the rest of the non-industrialized world could be incredibly successful. It all comes down to how easy you make things, and how well you promote through grassroots organizations. I have spoke to many people that say they'd get in to this stuff but they don't understand it. You have to put it in a context they understand. For example, if you want to get people that need to wire their kids money over seas in to it, then you make an app or front end that "Feels" that way in context for them but still uses the underlying block chain. If being the resident "pc guy" for my friends family and neighbors has taught me anything, its that low maintenance and ease of use is 99% of it to 90% of people. That is probably why the iPhone was so successful. I hated texting until I had an iphone. It was too alien to me (as ridiculous as that sounds but I know a lot of people that was true for).

Thanks for the article, @iaminitnow06. It seems the number of users have escalated to 6 million users. If you note what I have written a while ago here http://forum.nemcoin.com/index.php?topic=2352.msg4130#msg4130 and if you follow some of the various "long stories" that I have written over the last 3 months, you'd realise that whatever was said in the article by Wences Casares of Xapo is very much going to be in the NEM ecosystem with respect to the 6.5B people.

Before I go on, allow me to re-emphasize that NEM is NOT ONLY A CRYPTO COIN. NEM is a platform that seeds an ecosystem. NEM by itself is what we call a Crypto 2.0 at V1 launch.

The ambition of AltNemo is to make the entire ecosystem of NEM into a Crypto 3.0. Crypto 3.0 will take away some of the responsibilities of the likes of XAPO. The irony of the article is that he was talking about the underbanked and the unbanked. Why would the unbanked and underbanked need the services of a Fort Knox?

In my earlier articles I did allude to the underbanked and the unbanked that are going to be drivers for the use of cryptos. I maintain that they will in fact be the drivers of cryptos which coincides with Wences' conclusion.

These 6.5B people with their cell phones will be the drivers.  The projects of AltNemo coined by Makoto as epic was not without a reason. We've realized that mobile devices is the way to drive the usage of the NEM platform. Coupled with a tightly integrated Fast exchange with extended features, AltNemo will set itself apart from the rest of the world and create what we call Crypto 3.0.

AltNemo's design has some elements of the much discussed Supernet. AltNemo has an MWG embedded. AltNemo has a fast exchange. And most importantly, AltNemo's exchange has a different architecture to traditional exchanges like BTC-e, Cryptsy, etc. AltNemo does not store coins and AltNemo provides for fiat <-> crypto exchange.

The design architecture of AltNemo's epic projects are specifically tailored for the underbanked and unbanked. It also takes into consideration that the underbanked and unbanked most probably do not have smartphones or devices and therefore will require another means of transaction method.

Some has asked and think that this is all too quixotic and therefore do not think it will work as a solution. My answer is, things need not be complicated and can be simply designed. They are complicated only if one thinks they are. The design is not rocket science but the thought processes that have gone into it has been an 18-month affair. We hope to have more iterations of our design so that when we finally get to code it, it will be even simpler.

The development of these epic projects will take between 6 to 9 months before they can be put to great use. It can be done in parallel with the existing development of the NEM platform as the NCC is already open source. If we can start our development tomorrow, we should be able to see its launch by the 2nd. quarter 2015, perhaps shortly after the launch of V1.

So, I cannot help but to again plead with all you supporters of NEM out there to support the cause of AltNemo for a better NEM tomorrow. Donations are welcome, otherwise you can participate in the crowdsale . Please visit out website at www.altnemo.com.

If NEM doesn't provide digital and mobile money transfers to the poor (actually the forgotten majority) somebody else will. I truly believe this is the future. As a person who has lived in a poor village in one of the poorest counties in Africa for a couple of years while doing aid work I watched as Africa skipped landlines and went directly to cellphones. Now they are skipping computers and going directly to feature phones or smart phones.  I'm guessing they will also completely skip banks, checks, and credit cards. And I hope they go directly to crypto currency.  I love that NEM is working towards providing financial solutions for the whole world and not just the first world.  

[zachamo]

My 2 cents on the notion of giving stakes to celebs / crypto leaders:

DO IT! Please do what you can to broaden and deepen the community..

The question is: WHO should do it? Should the developers arbitrarily give out stakes based on poorly responded polls open to all of BTT or Nem forms? no.

Start a fund. Collect donations. Band together and tackle ventures like this as a community. Get people to toss in spare NXT and buy up as much NEMStake as you can. Let the donors decide who gets the stakes. That's how it should be done.

[xtester]

everybody begins with an equal opportunity

This is true as long as you:

1: Have money
2: Already know about cryptos.

The same can be said about a company that releases an stock IPO, if you have the money and know about the IPO then you have an equal opportunity.

I would like to hear plans for NEM on how it will get average joe involved. Do you expect them to buy NEM when they have no clue what it is or how it works?
How will people in third world countries get NEM?

Maybe I am misunderstanding what the NEM movement is, is it to help all people with financial freedom and equality of opportunity or just the ones that can afford it?

Hi mrvegad,

It seems you are extrapolating things out of context and hence, missing the point. The idea with the statement: "everybody begins with an equal opportunity" is not that every person on earth starts with an equal opportunity, rather it should be obvious that in the context in which the statement was made, it meant every stakeholder of NEM begun with an equal opportunity. As for how NEM will reach the average joe and offer financial freedom to others, I think you've heard a lot of plans regarding that. In any case, it will probably take a good amount of time until NEM, and any other crypto for that matter, will reach the average joe. We're planning and thinking hard about these issues but until then there are more pressing issues to solve: launch NEM, make it work, create a vibrant ecosystem, make it simple, build a new economy on a sustainable foundation, nurture the current community, attract new productive and valuable to the community, offer an opportunity even to people who were not between the original stakeholders to bring their contributions to NEM and get rewarded based on those contributions, etc.

[xtester]

lordoliver - But if people don't know about cryptos how where they able to take part in the NEM that was given away at the start of the project?

amytheplanarshift - thank you for the civilized reply. I agree about POI, that is what drew me to NEM. I understand there could be no 100% equal opportunity, all I am saying is that why are people against giving away some NEM to those who don't know what crypto can do for them or to those that can't afford it? I am not talking about giving them full stakes, just a small amount.

What if some of the development funds  goes to making an online store that sells NEM t-shirts (someone already made some nice ones), usb sticks, keychains, coffee mugs, just some small items that won't cost much to get made and shipped out so people that are new to cryptos can see how fast and easy it is to use. I think people learn faster by doing instead of being told. I haven't put much thought in to this idea so I am sure there are some faults with it.

If NEM is truly a movement then we should try to help as many as we can.

I think we generally agree on that, this is why we are already trying as hard as we can to make things work. As with everything, there is an order of priority which dictates, at least at the beginning, what NEM should focus on. Meaning that you first have to build NEM, make it work, invest a lot of time to make it simple, grow the community and attract new people who could contribute with the previous mentioned points, etc. If you fail to do that first, you don't have any NEM to help other people with in the first place.

[xtester]

Could we not use some to get the nem source Code peer reviewed by leading academic(s) in the field? If we want to be serious about this.. We need to do things properly and that would be a great step in the right direction. We could then summarise the report and have it published across the media and no one will be able to discredit the work of the devs

Great idea, I also think some of the stakes should go to prominent/famous figures in the crypto space. Bitcoin devs, Sunny King, Ashton Kutcher (I swear that guy is into crypto), Joe Rogan, etc.

I think this actually goes against what NEM stands for in that it does not exactly promote fairness for all in the slightest. Giving away stakes to people simply because they are famous is not promoting the ideals of equality that NEM was supposedly built upon. If those people deserve a stake simply because of their name, then what does that mean for the rest of us? Sure, it may turn into a bit of PR buzz, but at the cost of sacrificing the principles upon which NEM was founded. I don't think the PR buzz is worth that much.

We can spread NEM organically simply by making a better technology and cultivating a fair and friendly community. These kinds of PR stunts are what cryptocurrencies that do not innovate have to resort to in order to spread, because they are incapable of spreading any other way. NEM is better than that.

Maybe celebrities shouldn't be involved, but what about people like Anreas Antonopoulos. If it wasn't for people like him promoting crypto, I think Bitcoin and NEM would not be where they are today. I think it's fine to give some of these people free NEM, and I still think it would promote fairness in the NEM ecosystem.

+1. Especially now that he has left the Bitcoin foundation http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/andreas-antonopoulos-leaves-bitcoin-foundation-complete-lack-transparency/. It is the right time to strike the metal. 

I am strongly in favor of including the people mentioned above. Each one could bring huge value to NEM in the future and to some extent have contributed to the movement that led to NEM being able to be created in the first place. They would be awesome to be in our community.

As far as Ashton goes, I think we should not only give him NEM, but each one of us with twitter should send him a message saying we appreciate his contributions to technology and would like to give him NEM. If he got 1000 messages, he might even use his NEM.

Also, I think it would be neat if they were distributed by vote. Like on the NEM forum, there could be a thread of suggestions of nominees. Anybody could nominate any other person, then there is a vote, and then the top 5 or 10 get NEMs.  There is something fair about a process where anybody can be nominated and the community votes for people that have been positive influences on the field as a whole.

As discussed before we are creating a list of such individuals which could add a lot of value if they would join NEM, it would be great to present and vote for them when the targeting campaign will start. I also think the idea of targeting Ashton on twitter directly, with a significant amount of tweets, would be an interesting experiment.