Hello Steemians,

Today I want to talk about the Cardano (ADA) project. Now there are a lot of articles on steemit and the web in general that talk about this project from a technical or speculative view. I can't count how many notifications I get on on a daily basis from tradingview.

Some of the articles focus on the technical aspects such as formal verification, proof of stake and smart contracts. While the more speculative in nature talk about price forecast and chart trends. I even wrote a blog about it when it first started trading on Bittrex. With this article I want to take a more different approach and talk about the more artistic and even the spiritual aspects of this project.

How Would You Want To Be Remembered?

We often memorialize those we feel have had some type of impact on the current society. A lot of times these people don't receive the recognition they deserve during their lifetimes and are never able to capitalize on their brilliance. Ada Lovelace was one of those people and she is often considered the first person to write a computer program.

From Wikipedia: Augusta Ada King-Noel, Countess of Lovelace (née Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the first to recognise that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, and published the first algorithm intended to be carried out by such a machine. As a result, she is often regarded as the first to recognise the full potential of a "computing machine" and the first computer programmer.

The project is called Cardano but the currency symbol is called ADA. ADA can be broken down into 6 decimals unlike bitcoin which is broken down into 8. The smallest unit (0.000001) is called a lovelace.

We are pretty use to seeing dead presidents representing a store of value but now we have the mother of modern computing doing the same thing in the digital age. In her lifetime she faced a lot of adversity for being a woman in the intellectual circles dominated by men. She was never given credit for what she created.

I also learned that she had a pretty bad gambling problem which lead her to get taken advantage. Kinda ironic to have a cryptocurrency named after you because a lot of people just consider it gambling but in my opinion life is a gamble.

The Dawn Of A New Renaissance

We are living in a time that may be remembered as the cultural bridge between the modern and digital ages. In every age there are people that use their abilities and gifts to move the culture forward. Gerolamo Cardano was one of the key figures in the foundation of probability. He wrote over 200 works and is one of the most influential mathematicians of the Renaissance period.

From stetson.edu: Girolamo Cardano is sometimes known by his Latin name, Cardan. He was an illegitimate child of a lawyer in Milan, whose expertise in mathematics was such that he was consulted by Leonardo da Vinci on questions of geometry. Cardano at first became his father's assistant, but began to think about an academic career after learning mathematics from his father

The Cardano project describes itself as a platform evolved out of a scientific philosophy. All of the releases are related to a scientific figure from history. You can check out their roadmap for more information. Cryptocurrencies are currently evolving and trying to solve problems that have come about from Bitcoin and Ethereum.

All of the new projects coming out are trying to be the killer project that knocks Ethereum from second place. I'm not sure if Cardano will be that project but it is innovative none the less.

I would also like to note that Cardano also had a gambling issue. Since he had a better understand of probability he would win most of the times. He was also outspoken and very critical which probably made him a very unpleasant person to be around.

Mythology and Archetypes

In Jungian psychology collective unconscious ideas or patterns of thought are supposedly present in our psyches. The use of mythology was considered a way for the ancients to describe the world around them. But if you subscribe to jungian philosophy they were really describing themselves and human condition. Daedalus was the father of Icarus who got to arrogant and flew too close to the sun. He is also associated with Minotaur's

From Wikipedia: In Greek mythology, Daedalus (/ˈdɛdələs ˈdiːdələs/; Ancient Greek: Δαίδαλος Daidalos "cunningly wrought", perhaps related to δαιδάλλω "to work artfully";[1] Latin: Daedalus; Etruscan: Taitale) was a skillful craftsman and artist.He is the father of Icarus, the uncle of Perdix, and possibly also the father of Iapyx, although this is unclear. Daedalus is first mentioned by Homer as the creator of a wide dancing-ground for Ariadne. He also created the Labyrinth on Crete, in which the Minotaur (part man, part bull) was kept.

The wallet for Cardano is called Daedalus respectively. It has a pretty slick UI and the transactions are pretty fast. However it takes an extremely long time to sync!!!. If you're like me I like to actually use the products that are created by these projects just to get my hands dirty and check out the features. If you are not running this wallet 24/7 don't expect to be able to start it up so you can move your coins to an exchange during a run up. By the time it gets done syncing the market might be up or down 20%.

To Infinity and Beyond

Even though the term is cliche all good things must come to an end and nothing last forever. At least that is what we believe given our perspective as humans on planet earth. Instead of thinking in cycles we have been conditioned to view time as a straight line.

A lot of tribal cultures see time as being in cycles which I feel is more fitting. When you think about it time is an illusion. We are on a planet rotating and revolving around a star. Even our star is revolving around the center of the milky way. Nature tend to repeat itself with variations that lead to a transformations in a different cycle.

The Ouroboros symbol is an ancient one that depicts a dragon or snake eating its own tail.

The ouroboros (/ˌjʊərəˈbɒrəs/[2]; /ʊəˈrɒbərəs/[3]; Greek: οὐροβόρος) is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. Originating in Ancient Egyptian iconography, the ouroboros entered western tradition via Greek magical tradition and was adopted as a symbol in Gnosticism and Hermeticism, and most notably in alchemy. Via medieval alchemical tradition, the symbol entered Renaissance magic and modern symbolism, often taken to symbolize introspection, the eternal return or cyclicality, especially in the sense of something constantly re-creating itself. It also represents the infinite cycle of nature's endless creation and destruction, life and death.

Cardano is implementing a proof of stake algorithm called Ouroboros. I don't know the specifics of it yet but I do know it hasn't be implemented in the wallet yet. According to their roadmap is should be out in the second quarter.

There is a big debate in the cryptocurrency world when it comes to Proof of Work (POW) verses Proof Of Stake (POS). POW is pretty secure as long as one group does not take a hold of 51% of the network and start double spending attacks. POS is also considered secure however there are some worries about hoarding which essentially causes one person or a group to have control over the whole network.

There are also scaling issues when it comes to blockchain projects. Since each node holds all of the transactions that have ever occurred popular projects end up having extremely big blockchain ledgers. Overtime this will get extremely large but hopefully technology catches up and we are able to store large amounts of data in a small amount of space.

In Closing

I wouldn't consider this article as an endorsement of the Cardano project. It beat all of my expectations going from .04 to $1.27 in a little less than 3 months. I have no price predictions at this point but I do hope that it carves out a nice in the cryptocurrency world. It doesn't have any fiat pairings and is really only traded on two major exchanges Binance and Bittrex. I would recommend anyone trying to invest in this project to do your homework and learn to read charts. Cryptocurrency is very volatile at the moment so stay vigilant. If you made it this far thanks for reading!!!