I am a serious researcher and I read everything I can lay my eyes on. If Clif High has the bots doing the work for him then I am probably the manual version scanning the internet for hours on end 24/7/365 to make sense of the chaos around me. That is how I came to know about steemit and this wonderful community, and the block chain technology.

I have always hoped to attend an important academic conference, but without any luck so far. I deregistered from the doctoral program in South Africa in 2009 after I stood in the queue for 2nd year registration and had an emotional struggle whether to pay for registration or feed my family. Needless to say, my family won and I left without registering. So, I am not going to have the letters PhD next to my name, but that does not really bother me as I believe in doing things with passion and academia is of no real interest to me. My passion is doing research and analyzing information. So Clif High is high on my agenda of people to meet. Some students at a South African university are now starting to buy silver bullion after their Professor wrote an article about the value of silver. They could have acquired the same information with a few mouse clicks. So, it is rather sad that the fantastic minds of our youth are steered away from benefitting humanity and are used for corporate greed instead. If this is the state of our young academics and professionals, then the average Joe is probably at robotic level.

My son in law has graduated from the most prestigious university in Africa and is doing a post-graduate diploma in finance and has decided to turn his back on the corporate world to pursue his own dreams. Thank God, he has decided not to join any of the companies that suppress true entrepreneurship. This comes after numerous chats I had with him regarding people like Dan Larimer of EOS who, in my view, has the vision of change, but with a distinct philosophy (libertarian) that is not driven by mere greed or even the technology itself. Very few people factor his philosophy into his projects. His philosophy sets him apart from his peers who may be driven by other factors such as the technical aspects or success itself etc. Some of them are described as "breathing" or "living" technology. There is nothing wrong with striving for excellence in what one does, but there should be a deeper motivation that drives one to succeed. Technology, in my view, is therefore a means to an end; benefitting humanity should be the end itself, as all great legends served humanity first. It is common knowledge that projects driven by mere profit margins can easily be acquired by big corporations. So, hats off to the Cape Town students who declined Warren Buffet's offer to invest in their start-up venture. So, I would like to meet people like Dan Larimer up close and learn more about the future digital revolution at the Steemfest. On second thought, I would like to meet Dan himself, and I would not feel too bad about missing out this time.

I am doing two things at the same time, that is, entering the competition (I hope it’s still running) and introducing myself, because I can comment on posts, but I can’t post myself and I have previously asked for help.

Good luck to the winner and enjoy your stay in Portugal.

Thanks all