Free Slavery Essays and Papers – 123HelpMe

Title Length Color Rating Slavery and the Anti-slavery Movement - Anytime we hear the word slavery, we tend to think of the Southern United States during the Pre-Civil War era. What many people dont know, is that this horrible act has occurred worldwide. The term slavery has many different definitions, and has occurred all throughout our world history. It wasnt until the early 18th century that the thought of anti-slavery came about. Many economic, social, and technological forces have played a part in the decline of slavery around the globe. The first definition that comes to mind when we hear this term, is the act of being a slave or a person who does not own their own labor.... [tags: Slavery Essays]:: 11 Works Cited 1030 words(2.9 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Analysis of Arguments for the Slavery Institution - Analysis of Arguments for the Slavery Institution The foundation of this paper will highlight the following questions: How might southern apologists for slavery have used the northern wage slave discussed in the last chapter to justify slavery. To what extent do you agree with this argument. How did slaves use religious belief and kinship to temper their plight. Did this strategy play into the hands of slaveholders. How were non-slaveholding whites and free people of color affected by the institution of slavery.... [tags: Slavery]513 words(1.5 pages)Good Essays[preview] Enormity of Slavery - In the 1800s, many slave owners thought it fair for Africans to work without pay, because they believed that this particular group of people were made by God for this sort of work, and that slave owners were ever caring and conscientious of their slaves anyway, making slavery an easy life; truthfully, however, as both Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs experienced in being slaves most of their lives, and then showed in their narratives, this cruel and unusual practice was the epitome of iniquity- notwithstanding the fact that they were created equal to their malefactors.... [tags: Slavery]1612 words(4.6 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] 18th Centry Slavery In North America - People crying for freedom and liberty from tyranny built a nation out of greed and unethical acts. The rapacious desires of a nation to gain wealth and possessions lead to the emotional and psychological trauma of West Africans and African Americans. In spite of being taken from Africa, the sweat and blood of these Africans contributed to the birth of the beautiful nation that would eventually recognize their descendants as equals. The Exploration Age commenced in the fifteenth century when European nations decided to expand their power for technological, demographic, and economic reasons.... [tags: Slavery]:: 5 Works Cited 917 words(2.6 pages)Good Essays[preview] An End To Slavery - The society that became known as the United States had its beginnings when the first English settlers set foot on North American soil. Whether that settler landed in Massachusetts or Virginia, their beginnings on this continent were all influenced by the society that they had left behind. These included many aspects of England's society, culture, economy, and politics. Those societal, cultural, economic and political beginnings can be traced throughout our history in the mindset that both the North and South represented.... [tags: Slavery Essays]1394 words(4 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] The Origins of Chattel Slavery in Colonial North America - The Origins of Chattel Slavery in Colonial North America There have been many illuminating studies in the field of the origins of chattel slavery in Colonial North America. Alpert, 1970; Edmondson, 1976; Jordan, 1962: Ruchames, 1967; Starr, 1973, wrote seminal studies that did much to bring insight to the subject. Goetz, 2009; Mason, 2006; Smaje, 2002; Neeganagwedgin, 2012, presented evidence that have either reexamined old questions or used new methods and approaches to ask news questions to add insight to this topic.... [tags: Slavery]:: 13 Works Cited 1586 words(4.5 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] The Consequences of Slavery - Abstract Slavery, like many ill-fated and evil inventions reached epidemic levels in early Europe and the American colonies. The history of slavery is documented most acutely during the period when slaves first arrived to the new land and when the colonies had first developed into the fledging United States of America. This would lead us to believe that slavery had not existed before this period or that the consequences and relevance of it had little historical, social, or economical importance.... [tags: Slavery, history, informative]:: 6 Works Cited 2031 words(5.8 pages)Better Essays[preview] Slavery and Abolition - The term slave is defined as a person held in servitude as the chattel of another, or one that is completely passive to a dominating influence. The most well known cases of slavery occurred during the settling of the United States of America. From 1619 until July 1st 1928 slavery was allowed within our country. Slavery abolitionists attempted to end slavery, which at some point; they were successful at doing so. This paper will take the reader a lot of different directions, it will look at slavery in a legal aspect along the lines of the constitution and the thirteenth amendment, and it will also discuss how abolitionists tried to end slavery.... [tags: Slavery Essays]:: 4 Works Cited 1581 words(4.5 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Colors of Slavery - When Americans think about slavery, they tend to think about "Africans" being brought to the New World against their will. Which upon their arrival were sold, the same as livestock, as permanent property to the white landowners. They may visualize in their minds a person of color shackled, chained, beaten, and forced to labor under the control of their white master. Their picture is that of chattel slavery; black and white. Americans have come to the assumption that slavery was imposed on people of one color or race.... [tags: History Slavery]:: 3 Works Cited 1795 words(5.1 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Evolution of Slavery - A person who is the property of and wholly subject to another; this is the definition of a slave. Over a span of 400 years 12 million Africans were captured, brought to the New World by approximately 40,000 ships and then enslaved. Thats 80 or more slaves per day. The perspective of white Southerners, Northerners and persons of color has evolved and are different. The slave trade into the United States began in 1620 with the sale of nineteen Africans to a colony called Virginia. These slaves were brought to America on a Dutch ship and were sold as indentured slaves.... [tags: Slavery Essays]:: 4 Works Cited 1044 words(3 pages)Strong Essays[preview] The History of Slavery in the United States - Following the success of Christopher Columbus voyage to the Americas in the early16th century, the Spaniards, French and Europeans alike made it their number one priority to sail the open seas of the Atlantic with hopes of catching a glimpse of the new territory. Once there, they immediately fell in love the land, the Americas would be the one place in the world where a poor man would be able to come and create a wealthy living for himself despite his upbringing. Its rich grounds were perfect for farming popular crops such as tobacco, sugarcane, and cotton.... [tags: Slavery Essays]:: 3 Works Cited 1435 words(4.1 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Slavery in the American South - Slavery is a form of forced free labor in which one human being is the property of another. Close to two million slaves were brought to the American South from African and the West Indies during the Atlantic slave trade. The American South accounted for over 20% African Americans. As late as 1900, 9 out of every 10 African Americans lived in the South. Slavery supported the economic structure for the planter aristocracy. In 1850 only 1,773 families owned more than 100 slaves each, and this group provided the political and social leadership of the section and nation.... [tags: Slavery Essays]612 words(1.7 pages)Better Essays[preview] The Cotton Gin and Slavery - The Cotton Gin was an invention that allowed the mass production of cotton. Cotton was previously a very difficult crop to profit from, because of the long hours required to separate cotton seeds from the actual cotton fibers. This all changed when Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793, a machine that sped up the process, thereby making cotton farming a profitable industry for the Southern States. With large areas of prime land ready for crops the Southern states bought and transported slaves in record numbers in order to work on their cotton farms.... [tags: Slavery Essays]1160 words(3.3 pages)Good Essays[preview] Slavery in the English Colonies - Although, Slavery had existed for centuries as a lowest social status in different parts of the world like Africa, Roman Empire, Middle East and etc., in English colonies slavery gained an importance, because of increasing demand for labor force and becoming relationship legitimated by law. Therefore, Englishmen were the reason of slavery in the colonies and its consequences. In the beginning of 17 century a group of merchants established first permanent English colonies in North America at Jamestown, Virginia.... [tags: slavery, USA, ]829 words(2.4 pages)Better Essays[preview] History of Slavery in America - Working long hours, whipped to death, starved, and broken spirits all describe a slave. Its not something you hear every day. Its not something anyone ever wants to hear. Just because we dont hear it every day doesnt mean it doesnt exist. I decided to do Slave Rights to remind people that there is still slavery in the world today. If people are educated about the past then they may not make the same mistakes in the future. It has been postulated that ancient civilizations would not have developed had it not been for slavery.... [tags: American Slavery]:: 15 Works Cited 1738 words(5 pages)Better Essays[preview] Slavery in the American Colonies - 1.In the American colonies, Virginians switched from indentured servants to slaves for their labor needs for many reasons. A major reason was the shift in the relative supply of indentured servants and slaves. While the colonial demand for labor was increasing, a sharp decrease occurred in the number of English migrants arriving in America under indenture. Slaves were permanent property and female slaves passed their status on to their children. Slaves also seemed to be a better investment than indentured servants.... [tags: Slavery Essays]954 words(2.7 pages)Better Essays[preview] Abraham Lincoln Supported Slavery - The Presidents Day holiday is celebrated in the cold month of February; children in classrooms across the United States are given a litany of the Presidents and their most famous accomplishments: George Washington, who could not tell a lie is the father of our country; John Kennedy, the dashing young man who asked, not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country, was assassinated in a mystery that still remains unsolved, and Honest Abe Lincoln, the Great Emancipator who authored the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves, is credited with beginning the long road in the fight for equality for blacks.... [tags: Slavery Essays]:: 10 Works Cited 1620 words(4.6 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Religion's Influence on the Slavery Debates - Slavery was a dominant part of the political and social arenas of 1800s America. However, it was not homogenous as it divided America into two distinct groups: those who supported it and those who did not. Traditionally, the states in the north had been anti-slavery while the states in the south had been pro-slavery. Southern life and economy depended on slavery and therefore staunchly supported the continued legal status of slavery. The northern states on the other hand recognized the inhumane nature of slavery and campaigned to establish equality for all citizens.... [tags: anti-slavery, pro-slavery, theology, equality]:: 1 Works Cited 1362 words(3.9 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Political Debate of Slavery - During the Antebellum period, the issue of slavery affected many religious and political debates. This was seen in the Lincoln Douglass debates, legislation, and the evolution of political parties. The political debates that fueled the slavery controversy were derived from legislation. The first legislation passed was the three-fifths compromise. Naturally, southern states wanted slaves to be counted as a whole person because the slave population in the south was larger. The northern states opposed this.... [tags: Slavery Essays]:: 2 Works Cited 1195 words(3.4 pages)Better Essays[preview] Thomas Jefferson and Slavery - Thomas Jefferson is a man who really needs no introduction. He was recognized as a luminous writer who was appointed to draft the Declaration of Independence. Congress formally approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Jefferson owned many slaves that worked for him. He would often even sell his slaves to buy others. Why then would he write in the Declaration of Independence, all men are created equal. Is it possible that Thomas Jefferson was a hypocrite and only wrote what the population wanted to see.... [tags: Slavery Essays]:: 4 Works Cited 991 words(2.8 pages)Strong Essays[preview] The Abolition of Slavery and the American Constitution - In 1688 the first American movement was the one to abolish slavery when the German and Quakers decent in Pennsylvania. The Quakers establishment had no immediate action for the Quaker Petition against slavery. The first American abolition society was the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully by the Quakers that had strong religious objections of slavery. In 1756 John Woolman gave up his business to campaign against slavery along with other Quakers. Thomas Paine was the first to write an article about the United States abolition of slavery and it was titled African Slavery in America.... [tags: american history, slavery]726 words(2.1 pages)Better Essays[preview] Lincoln's view on Slavery and How it Evolved - Lincolns View on Slavery.And How It Evolved Abraham Lincoln spent most of his political career as a member of the Whig party endorsing policies that aided economic development, supported free soil and opposed the expansion of slavery. Lincoln was instrumental in creating the voice of the Republican Party and during that process his own views on slavery were shaped. He played the middle ground and therefore appealed to both former conservative northern Whigs, and radical Republicans. The Civil War proved to be a turning point in Lincolns view of slavery and the extent he would go to abolish it.... [tags: Slavery Essays]:: 2 Works Cited 1675 words(4.8 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] The Sex Trade: Slavery and Prostitution - Individuals around the world are faced with inhumane treatments and conditions daily. Traffickers use force, fraud or coercion, including techniques such as containment, beatings, rape, confiscation of documents, debt bondage, false owners of employment, and threats of harm in order to maintain control over their slaves (Potocky, 2010). Sex trade is a global problem presently and will increase throughout the world if nothing is done to prevent and eliminate it. Sex slavery is a type of prostitution in which the traffickers make an increased profit through the solicitation of slaves.... [tags: legal issues, slavery, prostitution]:: 8 Works Cited 1384 words(4 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Comparing Slavery of the South and North - Introduction2 Initiation of slavery in America2 Preferences of African (black) slaves3 Similarities between the states towards slavery.....3 Differences.4 Northern states position..4 Southern states position...5 Conclusion...6 Comparing Slavery of the South and North Introduction: The Americas (north and south) was referred to as the new world since they had recently been discovered by the Europeans.... [tags: slavery, african slaves]1600 words(4.6 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Slavery: The Dividing of a Country - Slavery caused a rift in the American society. The issue of slavery in America divided citizens into two groups, pro-slavery and abolitionists. Unlike other countries America could not decide this issue peacefully. The two groups fought constantly, the issue would not be settled peacefully but would end in a violent war. The pro slavery group accepted and approved of slavery, while the abolitionists viewed slavery in a different light. The abolitionist disagreed with slavery and all it stood for.... [tags: abolitionists, pro-slavery, society]:: 3 Works Cited 528 words(1.5 pages)Good Essays[preview] The Evolution of Slavery in Colonial America - In my essay, The Evolution of Slavery in Colonial America author Jon Butler explains the reasons of the traces of the evolution of slavery. Butler describes the differences of the African experience in America and the European experience in America in detail. The African experience are focus on themes of capture, enslavement, and coercion but the history of Europeans in America concentrated on themes of choice, profit, and considerable freedom. The African and European experiences were never duplicated and paralleled they were powerfully intersecting the decline of the Indian population to become the American future thats what they want, but the Africans wants to end the evolution of s... [tags: slavery, john butler, africans]594 words(1.7 pages)Good Essays[preview] Slavery in American Society: Impact and Evolution - Slavery in American Society: Impact and evolution Slavery in American Society The controversies surrounding slavery have been established in many societies worldwide for centuries. In past generations, although slavery did exists and was tolerated, it was certainly very questionable, ethically. Today, the morality of such an act would not only be unimaginable, but would also be morally wrong. As things change over the course of history we seek to not only explain why things happen, but as well to understand why they do.... [tags: Slavery Essays]:: 8 Works Cited 1631 words(4.7 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] The Bible in Relation to Slavery - The Bible is the best-selling book of all time, and with good reason. For the stories written in it have changed the way many think and even believe when it comes to the power greater than this world. The Bible holds very specific opinions on things such as slavery, who humans should treat each other, and ultimately social justice. It has been one of the most important foundations for allowing social reform to occur in modern day history as well as the history of the whole world. However, it is forgotten in history class how prominent the ancient texts have changed the people.... [tags: Religion, History, Slavery]:: 3 Works Cited 1787 words(5.1 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] If Slavery were Considered Moral - Describe the differences of this time period if slavery was considered "right". ISSUES TO UNDERSTAND CH. 14 1)The Compromise of 1850 was a dispute on whether or not Mexico (gained by US) would become a slave or free state. The northerners didn't want the 36'30' line to be moved to the Pacific and the southerners didn't want "free soilism" which would make Mexico a free state. Northerners gained from the Compromise California as a free state, New Mexico and Utah as likely future slave states, a favorable settlement of the New Mexico-Texas boundary, and the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Colombia.... [tags: Slavery]1110 words(3.2 pages)Strong Essays[preview] The Real Heroes of Slavery in the United States - As a child in elementary and high school, I was taught that President Abraham Lincoln was the reason that African slaves were freed from slavery. My teachers did not provide much more information than that. For an African American student, I should have received further historical information than that about my ancestors. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity or desire to research slavery on my own until college. And with my eagerness and thirst for more answers concerning my African American history, I set out to console my spirit, knowledge, and self-awareness of my ancestors history.... [tags: Slavery Essays]1983 words(5.7 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] The U.S. Constitution and Slavery - The US constitution was written with great vision to create strong nation. The bill of right were written, it provide all humans with rights. The writers of the constitution we hypocrites, they didnt abide by what they preached. Thomas Jefferson wrote himself all men are created equal but he owned slaves. The founding father didnt look or even think about slavery when they wrote the constitution. They were pre-occupied in getting the southern state to join the union and sign the new constitution.... [tags: USA, constitution, slavery, history, ]408 words(1.2 pages)Strong Essays[preview] From Slavery to Presidential Power - When people look at a persons appearance, no two people will ever look alike. When people look at a persons character, no two people will ever look alike. Color, being the only thing that was similar, caused people of white race to see themselves as superior to those of African-American race. Slavery, which first arrived in Virginia in 1619, was followed by a number of events; many laws and amendments were passed, like the Fugitive Slave Law. Slavery resulted in Civil War, later gaining rights for African-Americans.... [tags: Slavery / Civil Rights]:: 6 Works Cited 1274 words(3.6 pages)Strong Essays[preview] History of Slavery in America - Slavery in the United States Slavery in general term consist in the state of a person being a property of another person. It has appeared for thousands of years. From the old Roman emperor to nineteenth century. Regardless, it increased by the development of societies to make profit by cheap human labor. Slavery appeared in the United States in late of seventeen centuries as a result of the trade market. These slaves came from Africa to work in large plantations for free labor in America. Historians believe that the first ship of slaves to arrive in America was Dutch to the Virginia colony of Jamestown in 1619 with around 20 slaves.... [tags: American History, Africans, Slavery]:: 8 Works Cited 909 words(2.6 pages)Better Essays[preview] George Washington's Feelings About Slavery - An abundance of scholars and general public regard George Washington as a prime example of leadership, citizenship, and overall individual achievement, and with good reason. When first learning of about George Washington in grade school, I was only told of his great accomplishments. The following composition will challenge the readers perception of our Nations first President as well enlighten the reader to debatable evidence of a more selfish racist. Thus forth, the following will show several of his accomplishments and how they not only overshadow his more deplorable actions but place his character and honesty into question.... [tags: Slavery Essays]:: 5 Works Cited 1319 words(3.8 pages)Strong Essays[preview] American Slavery Vs. Russian Serfdom - American slavery and Russian serfdom were similar in that the laborers were pushed down to the bottom of the social classes, slaves did not have any social mobility, and slaves were tied to the land they worked. In the Americas the Native American slaves were at the very bottom of the social classes. Different mixes of races also caused further denomination of classes between slaves. Similarly, in Russian serfdom, serfs were the lowest of classes and had very limited rights which made them almost like slaves to their landlords.... [tags: Serfs, Slavery]1876 words(5.4 pages)Better Essays[preview] Colonial American Slavery - The study of slavery in the development of early America is an extremely complex, yet vitally important part of American History. There are hundreds of thousands of documents, debates, and historical studies available today. According to Ms. Goetz, the assistant professor of history at Rice University, who states, in The Southern Journal of History, that in addition to geographic and chronological diversity in the Americas, assessment of experiences of colonial slaves is extremely complex, especially in the context of three European colonial powers, vigorous Indian groups, and free and enslaved blacks(Goetz, 599).... [tags: Slavery Essays]:: 13 Works Cited 1467 words(4.2 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Slavery is in the Past - Imagine being out in the fields hunting with your father. It has been a long day and a spitted warthog hangs between you. All of a sudden you are ambushed. An enemy tribe attacks you and your father. You fight using your makeshift spear but are overwhelmed by the number of tribesmen. You are hit in the head with a rock and fall unconscious. When you wake you are being loaded into a great wooden monster. You cringe in fear as you and your fellow captives are herded into this great wooden beast. You scream in protest at the white men who have chained you but they just beat you on the head with their rifles.... [tags: Slavery Argumentative]1953 words(5.6 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] The Abolishment of Slavery - The Abolishment of Slavery Slavery was a disgraceful and disturbing phenomenon. It was abolished, as people gradually became aware of the conditions of the lives of the slaves. There were many courageous men and women who helped put an end to slavery, both black and white, and the large number of people in Britain in Britain and all over the world that opposed slavery were very important abolishment of slavery. Middle class whites had an important role in the abolishment of slavery.... [tags: Slavery Essays]366 words(1 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Slavery in the South - Slavery in the South A large majority of whites in the South supported slavery even though fewer of a quarter of them owned slaves because they felt that it was a necessary evil and that it was an important Southern institution. In 1800 the population of the United States included 893,602 slaves, of which only 36,505 were in the northern states. Vermont, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey provided for the emancipation of their slaves before 1804, most of them by gradual measures.... [tags: Slavery Essays]683 words(2 pages)Good Essays[preview] The Cases Against Slavery - The two addresses by Abraham Lincoln Address at the Dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery and Second Inaugural address reflect the issues with slavery. The story, as framed by Abraham Lincoln, tells how colored soldiers and non colored soldiers have come together to fight the civil war to abolish slavery and preserve their rights their fore fathers have set up for them and how slavery goes against being a Christian. While the story line follows that of Harriet Beecher Stowe in her book Uncle Toms Cabin, where through a series of sketches she tells the stories of the human cruelty of slavery and enlightens the reader on how being a Christian and being for slavery is wrong.... [tags: Abraham Lincoln, slavery, Civil War]1110 words(3.2 pages)Better Essays[preview] What is Wrong with Slavery?: Utilitarian Thought - In Philosophical Ethics, Utilitarianism is the doctrine that our actions are right if the outcome of our actions generate the greatest happiness amongst the majority. However, in What is Wrong with Slavery? some objectors of utilitarianism have tried to dismiss this moral reasoning as to having any importance by blaming the awful actions of slave traders and slave owners on utilitarianism. They attack this doctrine by saying that utilitarianism is a belief system that can either praise or condemn slavery, and utilitarianism easily commend slavery if a majority of the people visualize a slave-owning society as the most beneficial and generate greatest happiness.... [tags: utilitarianism, slavery, slave trade]733 words(2.1 pages)Better Essays[preview] The Effect of the Industrial Revolution on Slavery - Slavery has always been a part of human history. Therefore on cannot talk about when slavery began in North America. Soon after the American colonies were established in North America, slaves were brought in to meet the growing labor need on plantations. Although the importation of slaves continued to grow as new plantations were developed, it was the industrial revolution that would have the most profound impact on the slave industry. The purpose of this essay is to analyze the effect of slavery in the 13 colonies due to the industrial revolution.... [tags: Slavery, North America, Industrial Revolution, his]1161 words(3.3 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Slavery in the South - Slavery in the South Slavery of the Black man in America was the cruelest ever known to man. Europeans transported slaves from Africa as early as 1505. The African Slaves were first exploited on an island named Hispaniola, in the Caribbean by the Europeans to do labor work, before they were sent to the Americas. The women usually worked the interior cooking and cleaning while the men were sent out into the plantation fields to farm. These Africans were stripped of their homes, cultures, and languages.... [tags: Slavery Essays]865 words(2.5 pages)Good Essays[preview] Slavery in the Caribbean - Slavery in the Caribbean Caribbean Slavery gave planters and elite in the Caribbean the right to abuse a human by requiring ridiculously long hours of work on the fields and not providing enough nutrition. The article by Kiple and Kiple reviews the state of malnutrition among the slaves and the findings are atrocious. Slaves were lacking basic nutrients such as calcium, fats, and various vitamins. Kiple and Kiple, regardless of these facts, state that according to 18 and 19th century standards, these diets were not poor.... [tags: Slavery Essays]870 words(2.5 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Slavery in the United States - A historian once wrote that the rise of liberty and equality in America was accompanied by slavery. There is truth in that statement to great effect. The rise of America in general was accompanied by slavery and the settlers learned early on that slavery would be an effective way to build a country and create free labor. There was a definite accompaniment of slavery with the rising of liberty and equality in America. In 1787, in Philadelphia at the Constitutional Convention, the structure of government wasnt the only thing being discussed.... [tags: Slavery, racial issues, equal rights, civil rights]:: 3 Works Cited 1042 words(3 pages)Better Essays[preview] The South and Slavery - The South and Slavery The Societies of the North and South were very different. They were two regions of the country that depended very heavily on each other but yet seemed so far apart. Disagreeing on almost every aspect of how to reside and especially on very specific issues like slavery and emancipation. The North was an industrious, moneymaking, region. They respected blacks and gave them more rights than in the South where they had none. They still were not given the same rights as whites.... [tags: Slavery Essays]527 words(1.5 pages)Strong Essays[preview] The Longstanding Institution of Slavery in the United States - Slavery, as an institution, has existed since the dawn of civilization. However, by the fifteenth century, slavery in Northern Europe was almost nonexistent. Nevertheless, with the discovery of the New World, the English experienced a shortage of laborers to work the lands they claimed. The English tried to enslave the natives, but they resisted and were usually successful in escaping. Furthermore, with the decline of indentured servants, the Europeans looked elsewhere for laborers. It is then, within the British colonies, do the colonists turn to the enslavement of Africans.... [tags: USA, slavery, history]658 words(1.9 pages)Better Essays[preview] Slavery and the Caribbean - Slavery and the Caribbean Europeans came into contact with the Caribbean after Columbus's momentous journeys in 1492, 1496 and 1498. The desire for expansion and trade led to the settlement of the colonies. The indigenous peoples, according to our sources mostly peaceful Tainos and warlike Caribs, proved to be unsuitable for slave labour in the newly formed plantations, and they were quickly and brutally decimated. The descendants of this once thriving community can now only be found in Guiana and Trinidad.... [tags: Slavery Essays]767 words(2.2 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Chapter 19 Outline: Perceptions on Slavery - ... Yet again the citizens would vote to make Kansas either pro or free slave state. The Lecompton Constitution is made to control free-soilers and appeal to the pro-slavery southerners. The constitution caused problems because obviously northerners didnt agree with it. In the end the constitution was thrown off by free-soil voters. Kansas never becomes a state until southern states seceded from the Union. IV. Bully Brooks and His Bludgeon: a.Charles Sumner Senator of Massachusetts gives a speech and is afterward beaten by Preston Brook.... [tags: kansas, slavery, debate, union]1219 words(3.5 pages)Strong Essays[preview] African American Issues: Slavery and Continuing Racism - There are many issues that African Americans face in todays society, many of which I had not realized until after taking Africana Studies. Some issues dwell on the horrific past of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, which not only is history, but also is part of African American heritage (Karenga, 2010). African Americans frequently experience many perilous problems, such as dire economic situations and feelings of hostility from the cultural mainstream in America (Kaufman, 1971). The cultural collision between African Americans and whites continues to create several problems in society.... [tags: Race, Slavery]:: 9 Works Cited 894 words(2.6 pages)Better Essays[preview] The Hypocrisy of American Slavery, Through the Eyes of Frederick Douglass - The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself is a powerful book in many respects. Douglass invites you to vicariously witness the monstrous atrocities he experienced during the antebellum period; a time when said atrocities were not only encouraged, but looked highly upon. Throughout his narrative, Douglass expresses his exponentially growing anger and fortitude. When the reader arrives at The Appendix, it soon becomes that much more apparent that the vice of slavery that is most troublesome to him, is the curtain of pseudo-Christianity surrounding it.... [tags: Slavery Essays]:: 3 Works Cited 1599 words(4.6 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] slavery and the plantation - slavery and the plantation During the era of slavery in the United States, not all blacks were slaves. There were a many number of free blacks, consisting of those had been freed or those in fact that were never slave. Nor did all slave work on plantations. There were nearly five hundred thousand that worked in the cities as domestic, skilled artisans and factory hands (Green, 13). But they were exceptions to the general rule. Most blacks in America were slaves on plantation-sized units in the seven states of the South.... [tags: Slavery Essays]:: 6 Works Cited 2101 words(6 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Slavery in the Bible - Slavery in the Bible The first mention of slavery in the Bible is found in Noah's declaration, "Cursed be Canaan. The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers" (Gen. 9:25). He said this after waking up from a naked, drunken stupor and learning that his son Ham had mocked him. Although Ham was the guilty party, Noah's statement was directed at Ham's youngest son Canaan. If he was involved with his father in this act of disrespect, the statement can be taken as the pronouncement of a curse, "Cursed be Canaan." It is possible, however, that Canaan did not join his father in making fun of Noah.... [tags: Slavery Essays]780 words(2.2 pages)Good Essays[preview] Slavery Around the World - Throughout this course we have learned about slavery in many parts of the world. I have learned some new things about slavery that I had never been taught before. Slavery has been a major stab wound to the heart of the world ever since it first existed. Slavery has caused years of turmoil and depression to large ethnic groups of people who have done nothing to deserve what came to them. The sad part about the whole slavery situation is that, it was never completely abolished from the world. Maybe on paper slavery may have been abolished, but there are still forms of slavery that exists in the world today.... [tags: Slave, Mende Nazer, child slavery, Sudan]:: 3 Works Cited 1588 words(4.5 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] The abolition of slavery in Africa and the Middle East - ... The Western civilizatory mission can not accept slave work in a world in which the progress and the 'humanity' it was characterized by freedom and wage labor.9 Actually, the end of slavery in Africa was one of the 'motivations' of the 'scramble of Africa'. Colonialism was a way to overcome the savagery and bring natives to progress and civilization through wage labor and production for the market.10 Once the colonial rule was established and slavery legally abolished, images of 'benign' slavery were a way to keep good relations with the local rulers.... [tags: British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society]1001 words(2.9 pages)Better Essays[preview] Slavery, A World History - A labor system that had previously existed throughout history, in many instances and most countries is known as slavery. So what exactly is it. How did slavery begin. And what does it mean in our world today. These are complex questions that are often asked and, possibly, by understanding the forms it takes and the roles such slaves perform. What daily life is like for those enchained and what can be done to end this demeaning practice may help in answering those questions. It is known that slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought, sold and are forced to work.... [tags: labor systems, laws don't abolish slavery ]:: 2 Works Cited 1098 words(3.1 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Racial Slavery and the Development of Our Nation - ... Confrontation between the Native Americans and settlers in western Virginia spearheaded an uprising that demanded Governor Berkeley to provide more land to the poor whites. Berkeley stood by his decision to maintain peaceful relations with the local Native American population, which sparked a series of uprisings and massacres that grew into full rebellion against Berkeley and his men. Berkeley fled when Nathaniel Bacon and his ranks burned Jamestown to the ground, which led to Bacons rule over Virginia for a short while until England sent warships to regain control.... [tags: united states, freedom, liberty, slavery]:: 1 Works Cited 1436 words(4.1 pages)Better Essays[preview] Interpretations of Slavery - Interpretations of Slavery INTRODUCTION Slavery is known to have existed as early as the 18th century B.C. during the Shang Dynasty of China. Slavery was widely practiced in many other countries, including, Korea, India, Greece, Mexico and Africa. (Britannica 288-89). When most people consider slavery, however, they think of Western slavery in North America because it is well documented and it was such a horrible institution. Even though there is no one definition of slavery, the people who study it (historians, anthropologists and sociologists) agree that certain characteristics are present in all forms of slavery.... [tags: Slavery Essays]:: 8 Works Cited 3740 words(10.7 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Slavery in America - Slavery in America By 1850, ninety-two percent of all American blacks were concentrated in the South, and about 95 percent were slaves. Pre-civil war slaves in America went through a great deal of turmoil and discontent in the South. Slavery has had a huge effect on our country. Many slaves were beaten to death and some did not survive the ruff life of slavery. Slavery then went on to cause the War between the North and the South known as the Civil War. In 1916, a Dutch ship brought twenty enslaved Africans to a Virginia Colony at Jamestown.... [tags: Slavery Essays]:: 2 Works Cited 410 words(1.2 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Slavery In 19c - Slavery in 19th Century A justified institution as the 19th century emerged; the infamous institution of slavery grew rapidly and produced some surprising controversy and rash justification. Proslavery, Southern whites used social, political, and economical justification in their arguments defining the institution as a source of positive good, a legal definition, and as an economic stabilizer. The proslavery supporters often used moral and biblical rationalization through a religious foundation in Christianity and supported philosophic ideals in Manifest Destiny to vindicated slavery as a profitable investment.... [tags: Slavery Essays]1159 words(3.3 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Slavery In America - Slavery in America Introduction There has been much debate on the topic of slavery in the early times, although most of the countries considered slavery as a criminal activity. Some countries such as Myanmar and Sudan do not abolish it. They even expedite the slavery system. It is no doubt that slavery violent the human rights. However, it was commonly spread in the early times from 17th to 19th century. In this research, I will talk about the origin of the slavery, the reasons for people to becoming slave and the life of the slave.... [tags: Slavery Essays]1493 words(4.3 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Slavery In Illinois - Slavery in Illinois This essay talks about the dated events that happened in Illinois, focusing on slavery, from the time it begun, whether it should be implemented or not, its abolishment, and up to the time it ended. The paper also contains a well-opinionated reaction about slavery, how it is different from today. The Civil War Period has always been the primary hub of teaching in any American History classes. The era between the American Revolution and the Civil War was of a great importance since it has been the best and worst part of the western civilization during those times.... [tags: Slavery Essays]:: 4 Works Cited 1565 words(4.5 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Slavery in Literature - Slavery in Literature Frederick Douglass was born into the lifelong, evil, bondage of slavery. His autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself, depicts his accomplishments. The narrative, however, is not only the story of his success. It is not simply a tale of his miraculous escape from slavery. Frederick Douglass' narrative is, in fact, an account of his tremendous strides through literacy. He exemplifies a literate man who is able to use the psychological tools of thought to escape the intense bonds of slavery.... [tags: Slavery Essays]1499 words(4.3 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Slavery and Reparations - Slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism have caused inestimable damage to billions of people throughout the world. They have also formed the basis for the accumulation of immense wealth in the hands of a small elite The slave trade involved the brutal relocation of tens of millions of people in which families, communities and societies were destroyed and in which millions lost their lives in the most inhumane conditions. At the same time, slavery was a fundamental element of the strengthening of mercantile trade and the rapid accumulation of capital that formed the basis for the emergence of the capitalist system as we know it today.... [tags: Slavery Essays]4382 words(12.5 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Defense Of Slavery - Throughout history many things have happened that were by many thought to be unconscionable. Yet, the people who were putting their mark of unacceptance upon those committing these thought to be deplorable acts, were unaware of the actual situations, and in many cases, committing the same acts themselves. This was true during the Holy Wars, the Crusades and similar events. People who were not involved, often thought these acts of inhumanity to be reprehensible, but the parties involved, in their minds, had just cause for what they were doing.... [tags: Slavery Essays]1105 words(3.2 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Slavery In America - Slavery in America stems well back to when the new world was first discovered and was led by the country to start the African Slave Trade-Portugal. The African Slave Trade was first exploited for plantations in the Caribbean, and eventually reached the southern coasts of America. The African natives were of all ages and sexes. Women usually worked in the homes cooking and cleaning, while men were sent out into the plantations to farm. Young girls would usually help in the house also and young boys would help in the farm by bailing hay and loading wagons with crops.... [tags: Slavery Essays]1011 words(2.9 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Racism and Slavery - Did race prejudice cause slavery. Or was it the other way round. Winthrop D. Jordan, in his monumental study of white American attitudes to black people from 1550 to 1812, argues that prejudice and slavery may well have been equally cause and effect, 'dynamically joining hands to hustle the Negro down the road to complete degradation. But we must go deeper than that, if we are to understand the rise of English racism as an ideology, the various roles it has played in the past, and the role it is playing today.... [tags: Slavery Essays]1802 words(5.1 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Lydia Maria Child's Propositions Defining Slavery and Emancipation - There has been many debates about the righteousness of slavery in the United States. There were many supporters of slavery as well as people who opposed slavery. Slavery has concentrated on African slaves In the United States. Law and public opinion regarding slavery differed from state to state and from person to person. Slavery has brought about a lot of controversy and stirred emotions even in today's society which has left a big impact on the people. In the documents, Ads for Runaway Servants and Slaves (1733-72), Lydia Maria Child's Propositions Defining Slavery and Emancipation (1833) and Lydia Maria Child's Prejudices against people of color (1836), describes the life of slaves alon... [tags: slavery, african-american, servants]:: 9 Works Cited 1425 words(4.1 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Slavery in Jamaica - Jamaica has been a land exploited and oppressed by white nations for much of its history. First colonized by the Spanish and then the British, it seems hard to imagine a time when it was just the native people living in peace and harmony with the land. Many years after the white man first jammed himself onto the beaches of Jamaica, reggae music was born. A continuing tradition, this easy-to-groove-to music style originated as a voice against this oppression; it was the peaceful islanders way of finally communicating their plighted history to all who would listen, or all who could appreciate a good beat.... [tags: Slavery Essays]:: 6 Works Cited 4438 words(12.7 pages)Strong Essays[preview] slavery in brasil - Because certain forms of slavery had existed for centuries on the continent of Africa, Brazilian historians used to say that blacks imported from across the Atlantic were docile and ready to accept their new status as slaves. This assertion is based on the unwarranted assumption that was true of a limited area of Africa was typical of the continent as a whole. All slavery in brazil was essentially the same depending on the task or the labor the slave had to preform. In many cases the slaves was there to perform labor that was deplorable to the nobility.... [tags: Slavery Essays]743 words(2.1 pages)Good Essays[preview] Views On Slavery - There are many perceptions as to how people view slavery. When people talk about slavery, the first thing that comes to their mind will be African American Slaves in the United States. They will also think of how they were brought to the United States against their own will and unequally exploited. However, according to Stephen F. Austin, during the eighteen-twentys and thirtys Mexicans also had slaves. He compares American Slaves and Cruz Arocha as a Mexican Slave. Although there are many differences between Cruz Arocha and the American slaves, especially in the ways they are treated.... [tags: Slavery Essays]761 words(2.2 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Women and Slavery - SLAVERY AND THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD The simple fact is that everybody has heard of the Underground Railroad, but not everyone knows just what it was. First of all, it wasn=t underground, and it wasn=t even a railroad. The term AUnderground Railroad,@ actually refers to a path along which escaping slaves were passed from farmhouse to storage sheds, from cellars to barns, until they reached safety in the North. One of the most widely known abolitionists in history is a slave by the name of Harriet Tubman.... [tags: Slavery Essays]:: 2 Works Cited 1466 words(4.2 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Slavery in America - For this assignment we were asked to read the book Modern Medea written Steven Weisenburger, which deals with slavery in the mid-nineteenth century. In my paper I will discuss how the book portrays the daily life as a slave, the issue of freedom, and the racial realities during this time. This particular book tells the story of a slave by the name of Margaret Garner, who one day escaped from her plantation in Covington, KY, and took along with her Robert which was her husband, her four children, and Robert's parents.... [tags: Slavery Essays]1843 words(5.3 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Support of Slavery by the Christian Church - Support of Slavery by the Christian Church The belief in some higher presence, other than our own, has existed since man can recollect. Religion was established from this belief, and it can survive and flourish because of this belief. Christianity, one of several forms of religion that exist today, began sometime during the middle of the first century. Christians believe in a higher presence that they call "God." This belief in God is based on faith, not fact; faith is "unquestioning belief that does not require proof or evidence." (Webster's New World College Dictionary, 1996, p.... [tags: Slavery Essays]:: 6 Works Cited 2850 words(8.1 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] The Contrasting Views of Pro-Slavery vs. Abolitionist - ... Samuel Cartwright was a physician and pro-slavery advocate during the 1800s and is well known for his diagnosis of drapetomania, a supposed disease that made slaves runaway. He concluded that the reason African slaves sought to escape was because they were treated inadequately by their masters. Delving deeper in his writings it is discovered he too, like George Fitzhugh, approved of enslavement. Both men advocated the issue and have similar analyzes on how slaves are or should be treated. Cartwright expresses to his audience that slaves will most likely run (drapetomania) if they are treated poorly by their master; according to my experience, the "genu flexit"--the awe and reverence, m... [tags: positions, goals, party, slavery]1248 words(3.6 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Slavery in the Nineteenth Century: Viewpoint of the Antislavery and Abolotionist Movements - ... They were very well envisioned, however their efforts were only effective for so long due to the vast amounts of funding necessary for compensation of slave owners and shipment of freed slaves to their new settlements. There were far too many slaves and it was certain that the plan would never reach economic sufficiency to follow through with their project, as well as the fact that the growing cotton industry in the South called for much labor work and slaves were the easiest access of productive laborers.... [tags: homelands, slavery, influence, war]751 words(2.1 pages)Better Essays[preview] A Study of the Healing Process from Slavery and Racism - A battle lost or won is easily described, understood, and appreciated, but the moral growth of a great nation requires reflection, as well as observation, to appreciate it.-Frederick Douglass When you think of slavery, you may want to consider the effects of an earthquake because thats how powerful it was. Like many earthquakes, slavery produced various damaging ramifications to everything around it. This included devastation to family structures and in worst cases the loss of human life; and without doubt slavery claimed the lives of many just as Harriet Jacobs expressed I once saw a slave girl dying after the birth of a child nearly white.... [tags: Racial Relations, Slavery, Racism]2560 words(7.3 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Looking Poitively at the Effects of Slavery in the USA: Personal Narrative - A Blessing in Disguise Slavery and capitalism have an interesting relationship. Slavery has existed nearly everywhere in the world, under almost every political and economic system, and was in no way a stranger to capitalism or the United States. America experienced endless economic benefits from slavery, but it was simultaneously a despicable violation of human rights. Natives of Africa were not only captured, but transported to what is now the United States and forced to do work. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, European colonies heavily depended on the labor of the Africans for their economic survival.... [tags: economic systems, capitalism, slavery]:: 5 Works Cited 1012 words(2.9 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Wendell Phillips: A Leading Reformer for the Abolishment of Slavery - Wendell Phillips was a leading reformer for the abolishment of slavery and was known as a passionate abolitionist who was willing to risk his own future to defend the cause he firmly believed in. He was born on November 29, 1811, the son of a wealthy Boston family. With a background of attending the famous Boston Latin School as a kid and later on obtaining a degree from Harvard Law School in 1834. Phillips did not consider himself a reformer until the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society where he heard William Lloyd Garrison speak.... [tags: anti-slavery leaders]727 words(2.1 pages)Better Essays[preview] The Reality of Sex Slavery in the Present Day - In Margaret Atwoods novel, Oryx and Crake, she constantly placesthe reader in an uncomfortable environment. The story takesplacein a not so distant future where todays world no longerexistsdue toanunknown catastrophe. The only human is a man who calls himself theAbominableSnowman or Snowman for short, but in his childhood days his name was Jimmy. If the thought of being all alone in the world is not uneasy enough, Atwood takes this opportunity to point out the flaws of themodernworldthrough Snowmans reminiscing about Jimmys childhood. The truthsexposed are eventsthatpeople do not want to acknowledge: animal abuse for human advancement, elimination of human interacti... [tags: oryx and crake,margaret atwood,modern slavery]:: 2 Works Cited 1386 words(4 pages)Strong Essays[preview]

See the original post here:

Free Slavery Essays and Papers - 123HelpMe

How does Ethereum work – Medium

Introduction

Odds are youve heard about the Ethereum blockchain, whether or not you know what it is. Its been in the news a lot lately, including the cover of some major magazines, but reading those articles can be like gibberish if you dont have a foundation for what exactly Ethereum is. So what is it? In essence, a public database that keeps a permanent record of digital transactions. Importantly, this database doesnt require any central authority to maintain and secure it. Instead it operates as a trustless transactional systema framework in which individuals can make peer-to-peer transactions without needing to trust a third party OR one another.

Still confused? Thats where this post comes in. My aim is to explain how Ethereum functions at a technical level, without complex math or scary-looking formulas. Even if youre not a programmer, I hope youll walk away with at least better grasp of the tech. If some parts are too technical and difficult to grok, thats totally fine! Theres really no need to understand every little detail. I recommend just focusing on understanding things at a broad level.Many of the topics covered in this post are a breakdown of the concepts discussed in the yellow paper. Ive added my own explanations and diagrams to make understanding Ethereum easier. Those brave enough to take on the technical challenge can also read the Ethereum yellow paper.

Lets get started!

A blockchain is a cryptographically secure transactional singleton machine with shared-state. [1] Thats a mouthful, isnt it? Lets break it down.

Ethereum implements this blockchain paradigm.

The Ethereum blockchain is essentially a transaction-based state machine. In computer science, a state machine refers to something that will read a series of inputs and, based on those inputs, will transition to a new state.

With Ethereums state machine, we begin with a genesis state. This is analogous to a blank slate, before any transactions have happened on the network. When transactions are executed, this genesis state transitions into some final state. At any point in time, this final state represents the current state of Ethereum.

The state of Ethereum has millions of transactions. These transactions are grouped into blocks. A block contains a series of transactions, and each block is chained together with its previous block.

To cause a transition from one state to the next, a transaction must be valid. For a transaction to be considered valid, it must go through a validation process known as mining. Mining is when a group of nodes (i.e. computers) expend their compute resources to create a block of valid transactions.

Any node on the network that declares itself as a miner can attempt to create and validate a block. Lots of miners from around the world try to create and validate blocks at the same time. Each miner provides a mathematical proof when submitting a block to the blockchain, and this proof acts as a guarantee: if the proof exists, the block must be valid.

For a block to be added to the main blockchain, the miner must prove it faster than any other competitor miner. The process of validating each block by having a miner provide a mathematical proof is known as a proof of work.

A miner who validates a new block is rewarded with a certain amount of value for doing this work. What is that value? The Ethereum blockchain uses an intrinsic digital token called Ether. Every time a miner proves a block, new Ether tokens are generated and awarded.

You might wonder: what guarantees that everyone sticks to one chain of blocks? How can we be sure that there doesnt exist a subset of miners who will decide to create their own chain of blocks?

Earlier, we defined a blockchain as a transactional singleton machine with shared-state. Using this definition, we can understand the correct current state is a single global truth, which everyone must accept. Having multiple states (or chains) would ruin the whole system, because it would be impossible to agree on which state was the correct one. If the chains were to diverge, you might own 10 coins on one chain, 20 on another, and 40 on another. In this scenario, there would be no way to determine which chain was the most valid.

Whenever multiple paths are generated, a fork occurs. We typically want to avoid forks, because they disrupt the system and force people to choose which chain they believe in.

To determine which path is most valid and prevent multiple chains, Ethereum uses a mechanism called the GHOST protocol.

GHOST = Greedy Heaviest Observed Subtree

In simple terms, the GHOST protocol says we must pick the path that has had the most computation done upon it. One way to determine that path is to use the block number of the most recent block (the leaf block), which represents the total number of blocks in the current path (not counting the genesis block). The higher the block number, the longer the path and the greater the mining effort that must have gone into arriving at the leaf. Using this reasoning allows us to agree on the canonical version of the current state.

Now that youve gotten the 10,000-foot overview of what a blockchain is, lets dive deeper into the main components that the Ethereum system is comprised of:

One note before getting started: whenever I say hash of X, I am referring to the KECCAK-256 hash, which Ethereum uses.

The global shared-state of Ethereum is comprised of many small objects (accounts) that are able to interact with one another through a message-passing framework. Each account has a state associated with it and a 20-byte address. An address in Ethereum is a 160-bit identifier that is used to identify any account.

There are two types of accounts:

Its important to understand a fundamental difference between externally owned accounts and contract accounts. An externally owned account can send messages to other externally owned accounts OR to other contract accounts by creating and signing a transaction using its private key. A message between two externally owned accounts is simply a value transfer. But a message from an externally owned account to a contract account activates the contract accounts code, allowing it to perform various actions (e.g. transfer tokens, write to internal storage, mint new tokens, perform some calculation, create new contracts, etc.).

Unlike externally owned accounts, contract accounts cant initiate new transactions on their own. Instead, contract accounts can only fire transactions in response to other transactions they have received (from an externally owned account or from another contract account). Well learn more about contract-to-contract calls in the Transactions and Messages section.

Therefore, any action that occurs on the Ethereum blockchain is always set in motion by transactions fired from externally controlled accounts.

The account state consists of four components, which are present regardless of the type of account:

Okay, so we know that Ethereums global state consists of a mapping between account addresses and the account states. This mapping is stored in a data structure known as a Merkle Patricia tree.

A Merkle tree (or also referred as Merkle trie) is a type of binary tree composed of a set of nodes with:

The data at the bottom of the tree is generated by splitting the data that we want to store into chunks, then splitting the chunks into buckets, and then taking the hash of each bucket and repeating the same process until the total number of hashes remaining becomes only one: the root hash.

This tree is required to have a key for every value stored inside it. Beginning from the root node of the tree, the key should tell you which child node to follow to get to the corresponding value, which is stored in the leaf nodes. In Ethereums case, the key/value mapping for the state tree is between addresses and their associated accounts, including the balance, nonce, codeHash, and storageRoot for each account (where the storageRoot is itself a tree).

This same trie structure is used also to store transactions and receipts. More specifically, every block has a header which stores the hash of the root node of three different Merkle trie structures, including:

The ability to store all this information efficiently in Merkle tries is incredibly useful in Ethereum for what we call light clients or light nodes. Remember that a blockchain is maintained by a bunch of nodes. Broadly speaking, there are two types of nodes: full nodes and light nodes.

A full archive node synchronizes the blockchain by downloading the full chain, from the genesis block to the current head block, executing all of the transactions contained within. Typically, miners store the full archive node, because they are required to do so for the mining process. It is also possible to download a full node without executing every transaction. Regardless, any full node contains the entire chain.

But unless a node needs to execute every transaction or easily query historical data, theres really no need to store the entire chain. This is where the concept of a light node comes in. Instead of downloading and storing the full chain and executing all of the transactions, light nodes download only the chain of headers, from the genesis block to the current head, without executing any transactions or retrieving any associated state. Because light nodes have access to block headers, which contain hashes of three tries, they can still easily generate and receive verifiable answers about transactions, events, balances, etc.

The reason this works is because hashes in the Merkle tree propagate upwardif a malicious user attempts to swap a fake transaction into the bottom of a Merkle tree, this change will cause a change in the hash of the node above, which will change the hash of the node above that, and so on, until it eventually changes the root of the tree.

Any node that wants to verify a piece of data can use something called a Merkle proof to do so. A Merkle proof consists of:

Anyone reading the proof can verify that the hashing for that branch is consistent all the way up the tree, and therefore that the given chunk is actually at that position in the tree.

In summary, the benefit of using a Merkle Patricia tree is that the root node of this structure is cryptographically dependent on the data stored in the tree, and so the hash of the root node can be used as a secure identity for this data. Since the block header includes the root hash of the state, transactions, and receipts trees, any node can validate a small part of state of Ethereum without needing to store the entire state, which can be potentially unbounded in size.

One very important concept in Ethereum is the concept of fees. Every computation that occurs as a result of a transaction on the Ethereum network incurs a feetheres no free lunch! This fee is paid in a denomination called gas.

Gas is the unit used to measure the fees required for a particular computation. Gas price is the amount of Ether you are willing to spend on every unit of gas, and is measured in gwei. Wei is the smallest unit of Ether, where 1 Wei represents 1 Ether. One gwei is 1,000,000,000 Wei.

With every transaction, a sender sets a gas limit and gas price. The product of gas price and gas limit represents the maximum amount of Wei that the sender is willing to pay for executing a transaction.

For example, lets say the sender sets the gas limit to 50,000 and a gas price to 20 gwei. This implies that the sender is willing to spend at most 50,000 x 20 gwei = 1,000,000,000,000,000 Wei = 0.001 Ether to execute that transaction.

Remember that the gas limit represents the maximum gas the sender is willing to spend money on. If they have enough Ether in their account balance to cover this maximum, theyre good to go. The sender is refunded for any unused gas at the end of the transaction, exchanged at the original rate.

In the case that the sender does not provide the necessary gas to execute the transaction, the transaction runs out of gas and is considered invalid. In this case, the transaction processing aborts and any state changes that occurred are reversed, such that we end up back at the state of Ethereum prior to the transaction. Additionally, a record of the transaction failing gets recorded, showing what transaction was attempted and where it failed. And since the machine already expended effort to run the calculations before running out of gas, logically, none of the gas is refunded to the sender.

Where exactly does this gas money go? All the money spent on gas by the sender is sent to the beneficiary address, which is typically the miners address. Since miners are expending the effort to run computations and validate transactions, miners receive the gas fee as a reward.

Typically, the higher the gas price the sender is willing to pay, the greater the value the miner derives from the transaction. Thus, the more likely miners will be to select it. In this way, miners are free to choose which transactions they want to validate or ignore. In order to guide senders on what gas price to set, miners have the option of advertising the minimum gas price for which they will execute transactions.

Not only is gas used to pay for computation steps, it is also used to pay for storage usage. The total fee for storage is proportional to the smallest multiple of 32 bytes used.

Fees for storage have some nuanced aspects. For example, since increased storage increases the size of the Ethereum state database on all nodes, theres an incentive to keep the amount of data stored small. For this reason, if a transaction has a step that clears an entry in the storage, the fee for executing that operation of is waived, AND a refund is given for freeing up storage space.

One important aspect of the way the Ethereum works is that every single operation executed by the network is simultaneously effected by every full node. However, computational steps on the Ethereum Virtual Machine are very expensive. Therefore, Ethereum smart contracts are best used for simple tasks, like running simple business logic or verifying signatures and other cryptographic objects, rather than more complex uses, like file storage, email, or machine learning, which can put a strain on the network. Imposing fees prevents users from overtaxing the network.

Ethereum is a Turing complete language. (In short, a Turing machine is a machine that can simulate any computer algorithm (for those not familiar with Turing machines, check out this and this). This allows for loops and makes Ethereum susceptible to the halting problem, a problem in which you cannot determine whether or not a program will run infinitely. If there were no fees, a malicious actor could easily try to disrupt the network by executing an infinite loop within a transaction, without any repercussions. Thus, fees protect the network from deliberate attacks.

You might be thinking, why do we also have to pay for storage? Well, just like computation, storage on the Ethereum network is a cost that the entire network has to take the burden of.

We noted earlier that Ethereum is a transaction-based state machine. In other words, transactions occurring between different accounts are what move the global state of Ethereum from one state to the next.

In the most basic sense, a transaction is a cryptographically signed piece of instruction that is generated by an externally owned account, serialized, and then submitted to the blockchain.

There are two types of transactions: message calls and contract creations (i.e. transactions that create new Ethereum contracts).All transactions contain the following components, regardless of their type:

We learned in the Accounts section that transactionsboth message calls and contract-creating transactionsare always initiated by externally owned accounts and submitted to the blockchain. Another way to think about it is that transactions are what bridge the external world to the internal state of Ethereum.

But this doesnt mean that contracts cant talk to other contracts. Contracts that exist within the global scope of Ethereums state can talk to other contracts within that same scope. The way they do this is via messages or internal transactions to other contracts. We can think of messages or internal transactions as being similar to transactions, with the major difference that they are NOT generated by externally owned accounts. Instead, they are generated by contracts. They are virtual objects that, unlike transactions, are not serialized and only exist in the Ethereum execution environment.

When one contract sends an internal transaction to another contract, the associated code that exists on the recipient contract account is executed.

One important thing to note is that internal transactions or messages dont contain a gasLimit. This is because the gas limit is determined by the external creator of the original transaction (i.e. some externally owned account). The gas limit that the externally owned account sets must be high enough to carry out the transaction, including any sub-executions that occur as a result of that transaction, such as contract-to-contract messages. If, in the chain of transactions and messages, a particular message execution runs out of gas, then that messages execution will revert, along with any subsequent messages triggered by the execution. However, the parent execution does not need to revert.

All transactions are grouped together into blocks. A blockchain contains a series of such blocks that are chained together.

In Ethereum, a block consists of:

What the heck is an ommer? An ommer is a block whose parent is equal to the current blocks parents parent. Lets take a quick dive into what ommers are used for and why a block contains the block headers for ommers.

Because of the way Ethereum is built, block times are much lower (~15 seconds) than those of other blockchains, like Bitcoin (~10 minutes). This enables faster transaction processing. However, one of the downsides of shorter block times is that more competing block solutions are found by miners. These competing blocks are also referred to as orphaned blocks (i.e. mined blocks do not make it into the main chain).

The purpose of ommers is to help reward miners for including these orphaned blocks. The ommers that miners include must be valid, meaning within the sixth generation or smaller of the present block. After six children, stale orphaned blocks can no longer be referenced (because including older transactions would complicate things a bit).

Ommer blocks receive a smaller reward than a full block. Nonetheless, theres still some incentive for miners to include these orphaned blocks and reap a reward.

Lets get back to blocks for a moment. We mentioned previously that every block has a block header, but what exactly is this?A block header is a portion of the block consisting of:

Notice how every block header contains three trie structures for:

These trie structures are nothing but the Merkle Patricia tries we discussed earlier.

Additionally, there are a few terms from the above description that are worth clarifying. Lets take a look.

Ethereum allows for logs to make it possible to track various transactions and messages. A contract can explicitly generate a log by defining events that it wants to log.

A log entry contains:

Logs are stored in a bloom filter, which stores the endless log data in an efficient manner.

Logs stored in the header come from the log information contained in the transaction receipt. Just as you receive a receipt when you buy something at a store, Ethereum generates a receipt for every transaction. Like youd expect, each receipt contains certain information about the transaction. This receipt includes items like:

The difficulty of a block is used to enforce consistency in the time it takes to validate blocks. The genesis block has a difficulty of 131,072, and a special formula is used to calculate the difficulty of every block thereafter. If a certain block is validated more quickly than the previous block, the Ethereum protocol increases that blocks difficulty.

The difficulty of the block affects the nonce, which is a hash that must be calculated when mining a block, using the proof-of-work algorithm.

The relationship between the blocks difficulty and nonce is mathematically formalized as:

where Hd is the difficulty.

The only way to find a nonce that meets a difficulty threshold is to use the proof-of-work algorithm to enumerate all of the possibilities. The expected time to find a solution is proportional to the difficultythe higher the difficulty, the harder it becomes to find the nonce, and so the harder it is to validate the block, which in turn increases the time it takes to validate a new block. So, by adjusting the difficulty of a block, the protocol can adjust how long it takes to validate a block.

If, on the other hand, validation time is getting slower, the protocol decreases the difficulty. In this way, the validation time self-adjusts to maintain a constant rateon average, one block every 15 seconds.

Weve come to one of the most complex parts of the Ethereum protocol: the execution of a transaction. Say you send a transaction off into the Ethereum network to be processed. What happens to transition the state of Ethereum to include your transaction?

First, all transactions must meet an initial set of requirements in order to be executed. These include:

If the transaction meets all of the above requirements for validity, then we move onto the next step.

First, we deduct the upfront cost of execution from the senders balance, and increase the nonce of the senders account by 1 to account for the current transaction. At this point, we can calculate the gas remaining as the total gas limit for the transaction minus the intrinsic gas used.

Next, the transaction starts executing. Throughout the execution of a transaction, Ethereum keeps track of the substate. This substate is a way to record information accrued during the transaction that will be needed immediately after the transaction completes. Specifically, it contains:

Next, the various computations required by the transaction are processed.

Once all the steps required by the transaction have been processed, and assuming there is no invalid state, the state is finalized by determining the amount of unused gas to be refunded to the sender. In addition to the unused gas, the sender is also refunded some allowance from the refund balance that we described above.

Once the sender is refunded:

Finally, were left with the new state and a set of the logs created by the transaction.

Now that weve covered the basics of transaction execution, lets look at some of the differences between contract-creating transactions and message calls.

Recall that in Ethereum, there are two types of accounts: contract accounts and externally owned accounts. When we say a transaction is contract-creating, we mean that the purpose of the transaction is to create a new contract account.

In order to create a new contract account, we first declare the address of the new account using a special formula. Then we initialize the new account by:

Once we initialize the account, we can actually create the account, using the init code sent with the transaction (see the Transaction and messages section for a refresher on the init code). What happens during the execution of this init code is varied. Depending on the constructor of the contract, it might update the accounts storage, create other contract accounts, make other message calls, etc.

As the code to initialize a contract is executed, it uses gas. The transaction is not allowed to use up more gas than the remaining gas. If it does, the execution will hit an out-of-gas (OOG) exception and exit. If the transaction exits due to an out-of-gas exception, then the state is reverted to the point immediately prior to transaction. The sender is not refunded the gas that was spent before running out.

Boo hoo.

However, if the sender sent any Ether value with the transaction, the Ether value will be refunded even if the contract creation fails. Phew!

If the initialization code executes successfully, a final contract-creation cost is paid. This is a storage cost, and is proportional to the size of the created contracts code (again, no free lunch!) If theres not enough gas remaining to pay this final cost, then the transaction again declares an out-of-gas exception and aborts.

If all goes well and we make it this far without exceptions, then any remaining unused gas is refunded to the original sender of the transaction, and the altered state is now allowed to persist!

Hooray!

The execution of a message call is similar to that of a contract creation, with a few differences.

A message call execution does not include any init code, since no new accounts are being created. However, it can contain input data, if this data was provided by the transaction sender. Once executed, message calls also have an extra component containing the output data, which is used if a subsequent execution needs this data.

Read the rest here:

How does Ethereum work - Medium

One Chart Shows Why Ethereum Weathered the Cryptocurrency Crash

Here’s Why Ethereum Is Faring Better Than Other Cryptos
Cryptocurrencies are in an unholy mess. It feels like the sky is falling as we watch the crypto markets crash to new lows. But for some reason, there’s a ray of hope shining for one crypto.

Of all the top 10 cryptocurrencies, there’s only one that has managed to weather this storm better than the rest. Ethereum is the only cryptocurrency that stood guard for investors through these tumultuous times.

How exactly has this cryptocurrency managed to do that? I’ll divulge more information on that shortly. But first, let’s take a step back and acknowledge Ethereum’s steady endurance through this absolute.

The post One Chart Shows Why Ethereum Weathered the Cryptocurrency Crash appeared first on Profit Confidential.

The rest is here:
One Chart Shows Why Ethereum Weathered the Cryptocurrency Crash

Kurzweil Claims That the Singularity Will Happen by 2045

Kurzweils Predictions

Ray Kurzweil, Googles Director of Engineering, is a well-known futurist with a high-hitting track record for accurate predictions. Of his 147 predictions since the 1990s, Kurzweil claimsan 86 percent accuracy rate. At the SXSW Conference in Austin, Texas, Kurzweil made yet another prediction: the technological singularity will happen sometime in the next 30 years.

In a communication to Futurism, Kurzweil states:

2029 is the consistent date I have predicted for when an AI will pass a valid Turing test and therefore achieve human levels of intelligence. I have set the date 2045 for the Singularity which is when we will multiply our effective intelligence a billion fold by merging with the intelligence we have created.

By 2029, computers will have human-level intelligence, Kurzweil saidin an interview with SXSW.

The singularity is that point in time when all the advances in technology, particularly in artificial intelligence (AI), willlead to machines that are smarter than human beings. Kurzweilstimetable for the singularity is consistentwith other predictions, notably those of Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, who predicts that the dawn of super-intelligent machines will happen by 2047. But for Kurzweil, the process towards this singularity has already begun.

That leads to computers having human intelligence, our putting them inside our brains, connecting them to the cloud, expanding who we are. Today, thats not just a future scenario, Kurzweil said. Its here, in part, and its going to accelerate.

We all know it is coming sooner or later, but the question in the minds of almost everyone is: should humanity fear the singularity? Everyone knows that when machines become smarter than human beings, they tend to take over the world. Right? Many of the worlds science and technology bigwigs like Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, and even Bill Gates warn about this kind of future.

Well, Kurzweil doesnt think so. In fact, he isnt particularly worried about the singularity. It would be more accurate to say that hes been looking forward to it. What science fiction depicts as the singularity at which point a single brilliant AI enslaves humanity is just that: fiction.

Thats not realistic, Kurzweil said during hisinterview with SXSW. We dont have one or two AIs in the world. Today we have billions.

For Kurzweil, the singularity is an opportunity for humankind to improve. He envisions the same technology that will make AIs more intelligent giving humans a boost as well.

Whats actually happening is [machines] are powering all of us, Kurzweil said during the SXSW interview. Theyre making us smarter. They may not yet be inside our bodies, but, by the 2030s, we will connect our neocortex, the part of our brain where we do our thinking, to the cloud.

This idea is similar to Musks controversial neural laceand to XPRIZE Foundation chairman Peter Diamandis meta-intelligence concept.Kurzweil expounded on how this technology could improve human lives.

Were going to get more neocortex, were going to be funnier, were going to be better at music. Were going to be sexier, Kurzweil said during the SXSW interview. Were really going to exemplify all the things that we value in humans to a greater degree.

To those who view this cybernetic society as more fantasy than future, Kurzweil pointing out that there are people with computers in their brains today Parkinsons patients. Thats how cybernetics is just getting its foot in the door, Kurzweil said.And, because its the nature of technology to improve, Kurzweil predicts that during the 2030s some technology will be invented that cango inside your brain and help your memory.

So, instead of the machines-taking-over-the-world vision of the singularity, Kurzweil thinks itll be a future of unparalleled human-machine synthesis.

Ultimately, it will affect everything, Kurzweil said during the SXSW interview. Were going to be able to meet the physical needs of all humans. Were going to expand our minds and exemplify these artistic qualities that we value.

Editors note: This article has been updated to correct errors. A previous version of this article stated that Kurzweil predicted the singularity by 2029, rather than the date an AI will pass a valid Turing test.

Read the rest here:

Kurzweil Claims That the Singularity Will Happen by 2045

Department of Physics and Astronomy – Department of …

Our department is known for the global impact our students, faculty and alumni make with their research and cutting-edge international collaboration.We have ample hands-on research opportunities for all of our studentsfrom undergraduates to graduate students and post doctoral fellows.

In addition to ensuring you have a solid foundation in all central areas of physics, you'll also have the opportunity to take specialized experimental courses in order to tailor your studies to your own interests or goals. You can also explore our interdisciplinary program, engineering physics. This program will give you the practical problem solving skills that an engineering degree teaches backed up by the theory that physics offers.

As a physics student, we encourage you to take part in some of our many hands-on research opportunities. You have the option to either work with one of our internationally recognized faculty or to design your own research program. These opportunities will give you the skills and confidence to compete in the job market or to pursue a graduate degree.

Einstein, Black Holes, and Gravitational Waves

Public Lecture with Nobel laureate Dr. Barry Barish

Thursday, February 8, 2018 at 7:00pm

W.W. Hootie Johnson Performance Hall

Darla Moore School of Business (Room #101)

Applications to the University of South Carolina are handled onlineand there are options for you to apply as an undergraduate or to graduate school.

Learn How to Apply

See more here:

Department of Physics and Astronomy - Department of ...

The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech… Just Watch What You Say!

The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech... Just Watch What You Say! is the third studio album by American rapper Ice-T. The album was released on October 10, 1989, by Sire Records and Warner Bros. Records. The album has an uncharacteristically gritty sound, featuring some of the darkest musical tracks that Ice-T ever released.

The album was released after Ice-T was encountering censorship problems on tour. In The Ice Opinion: Who Gives a Fuck? the rapper states that "People had already told me what I could not say onstage in Columbus, Georgia. You couldn't say anything they called a 'swear' word. You couldn't touch yourself. They were using the same tactics they used on everyone from Elvis and Jim Morrison to 2 Live Crew".[5]

The album's cover, featuring a B-boy with a shotgun shoved in his mouth, and two pistols pressed against each side of his head, reflected Ice-T's experiences with the concept of freedom of speech. "The concept of that picture is, 'Go ahead and say what you want. But here comes the government and here come the parents, and they are ready to destroy you when you open your mouth'".[5]

"The Iceberg" alternates between typical violent metaphor, outlandish boasts, and comical sexual situations involving other members of Ice's Rhyme Syndicate. "Lethal Weapon" tells listeners that the mind is the most powerful weapon:

"You Played Yourself" advises listeners to be smart and not let themselves "be played". "Peel Their Caps Back" is about committing a drive-by to avenge a slain friend. Unlike other songs where violence is a metaphor for the rapper's ability to defeat other rappers lyrically, this song is a stark depiction of what could lead to such an event. However, it contains two surprising elements: in the end, the main character is killed, and the whole event is written off by the media as just another gang killing.

In "The Girl Tried to Kill Me", Ice-T raps about an encounter with a dominatrix:

"Black and Decker" starts off with Rhyme Syndicate members complaining about the media's portrayal of their work as meaningless violence. Ice wonders aloud what it would sound like if you drilled into someone's head with a powerdrill. After some gory sound effects, Ice says "Probably sound like that." "Hit the Deck" offers sincere advice to wannabe-MCs:

"This One's for Me" offers Ice's take on the rap scene and music industry. "The Hunted Child" is a first-person account of a scared young gang-banger on the run. The busy, multi-layered composition, with its scratched sirens and staccato drums, samples Public Enemy's "Bring the Noise".[6]

"What Ya Wanna Do" is a 9-minute party song featuring several members of the Syndicate, including a young Everlast, who became famous as a member of House of Pain. "Freedom of Speech" was one of the first raps to focus on the First Amendment and in particular attacked Tipper Gore's PMRC with unmistakable venom:

The album ends with in "My Word Is Bond", featuring Syndicate members telling one exaggerated story after another against a looped sample of Slick Rick saying "Stop lying" from his song "La Di Da Di".[7]

Sample credits

See the original post here:

The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech... Just Watch What You Say!

Ethereum Price Prediction 2018: $2,500 Is Our Ethereum Price Target

Where Ethereum Goes from Here
Aside from Bitcoin, no cryptocurrency is more popular and promising than Ether (the native token of the Ethereum platform). ETH prices exploded by 9,383% in 2017, beating every Ethereum price forecast in the world. Yet, now that it’s time to make Ethereum price predictions for 2018, analysts outside crypto-land remain gun-shy...

...and it’s no secret why. They are worried about a bubble in.

The post Ethereum Price Prediction 2018: $2,500 Is Our Ethereum Price Target appeared first on Profit Confidential.

Continued here:
Ethereum Price Prediction 2018: $2,500 Is Our Ethereum Price Target

Ethereum Price Forecast: India Crackdown Deepens ETH Price Crash

Ethereum News Update
Cryptocurrencies turned into a vortex of despair this week, dragging down all-but-one of the top 100 digital assets. Ethereum was not the exception---that was DigixDAO.

ETH lost 19.92% of its value, driving the crypto below $1,000 for the first time this month. The Ethereum to USD exchange rate was at $902.97 at the time of writing.

Although losses have been stacking up for days, India’s crackdown drove the pessimism into overdrive.

The incident began with India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s speech on the budget, in.

The post Ethereum Price Forecast: India Crackdown Deepens ETH Price Crash appeared first on Profit Confidential.

Read the rest here:
Ethereum Price Forecast: India Crackdown Deepens ETH Price Crash

Ripple XRP Will Survive on New Partnerships Despite Crashes

If you are glued to the cryptocurrencies market prices at the moment, then it is not the best of times for Ripple XRP. At the time of writing, Ripple was down by almost 30% amid a cryptocurrency market crash and was trading at around $0.75.

Ripple XRP prices are being impacted due to the overall cryptomarket suffering from an influx of negative news of late. News that South Korea would not be banning cryptocurrencies was encouraging, but then the message from the Indian Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, was painted in a negative light to convey that there was no place for cryptocurrency in the growing digital economy of India.

However, he clearly mentioned that India was open to.

The post Ripple XRP Will Survive on New Partnerships Despite Crashes appeared first on Profit Confidential.

See the original post:
Ripple XRP Will Survive on New Partnerships Despite Crashes

Litecoin Price Forecast: Charlie Lee Identifies the Real Problem with LTC Prices

Daily Litecoin News Update
Cryptocurrency prices are in a free fall as the crypto mania takes its last breaths. The so-called “cryptocurrency bubble” has finally popped. Prices are now retracing their steps back to the pre-mania levels. Now that we've been nudged awake by reality, it's time to embrace it with open arms.

Look at it this way: in the midst of this chaos, Litecoin has managed to overcome one of its flaws.

It.

The post Litecoin Price Forecast: Charlie Lee Identifies the Real Problem with LTC Prices appeared first on Profit Confidential.

Read this article:
Litecoin Price Forecast: Charlie Lee Identifies the Real Problem with LTC Prices

Ripple Price Prediction: XRP Price Crash Looks Inevitable in Hindsight

Ripple News Update
The main story this morning is Ripple’s dramatic fall below $1.00. It finally happened. And when it did, it inspired even more selling activity, leading XRP prices 30% lower against the U.S. dollar.

The XRP to USD exchange rate was around $0.656241 at the time of writing.

Ripple wasn’t the only one to drop beneath an important benchmark. Bitcoin fell below $10,000, Ethereum below $1,000, and NEM below $0.50. Almost every crypto trended down yesterday.
Ripple (XRP) Price Chart.

The post Ripple Price Prediction: XRP Price Crash Looks Inevitable in Hindsight appeared first on Profit Confidential.

Read more from the original source:
Ripple Price Prediction: XRP Price Crash Looks Inevitable in Hindsight

Litecoin Price Prediction 2018: Is Litecoin Potential Higher Than Current Counterparts?

Will Litecoin Go Up?
Although Bitcoin looms larger in the public consciousness, Litecoin is more developed in some ways. For example, Litecoin survived the implementation of SegWit (Bitcoin hasn’t...at least not yet). And to make matters worse, Litecoin mining pays 25 tokens for every block, while Bitcoin only pays 12.5.

These differences look small at first, but they could have outsize effects on Litecoin price predictions. Later in this report, we’ll break down why SegWit is important, when Bitcoin might reach full activation, and whether.

The post Litecoin Price Prediction 2018: Is Litecoin Potential Higher Than Current Counterparts? appeared first on Profit Confidential.

Here is the original post:
Litecoin Price Prediction 2018: Is Litecoin Potential Higher Than Current Counterparts?

Ripple Price Prediction: Gear Up for a Grueling Year of XRP Volatility

Ripple News Update
As we wrote a few weeks ago, the market is starting to respect the differences between various cryptocurrencies. XRP is not Ethereum. And Ethereum is not Bitcoin. So why treat them as a group?

This trend is real. But it isn’t happening fast enough to forestall the uncertainty sweeping across crypto markets. Prices are crashing and investors are fleeing. It is brutal to watch.

What’s causing this uncertainty? Maybe it is the onslaught of new regulations or the persistence of cybersecurity threats. Perhaps it’s the mass of ponzi schemes masquerading as legitimate cryptocurrencies. There are any number of things weighing on investors’ minds.

Here.

The post Ripple Price Prediction: Gear Up for a Grueling Year of XRP Volatility appeared first on Profit Confidential.

Link:
Ripple Price Prediction: Gear Up for a Grueling Year of XRP Volatility

Litecoin Price Prediction: Upcoming Litecoin Upgrade to Put LTC Ahead of BTC

Daily Litecoin News Update
The bloodbath continues in the crypto world as cryptocurrencies edge lower for the fourth consecutive day. There are no second guesses that jumpy investors are, in fact, jumping ship.

But the disciplined investors who continue to “HODL” must find solace in the fact that Litecoin is inching closer to achieving its goals. We have our fingers crossed as we anxiously await the release of the impending Litecoin upgrade.

For readers unaware of the upcoming upgrade, Litecoin founder Charlie Lee announced that it.

The post Litecoin Price Prediction: Upcoming Litecoin Upgrade to Put LTC Ahead of BTC appeared first on Profit Confidential.

More:
Litecoin Price Prediction: Upcoming Litecoin Upgrade to Put LTC Ahead of BTC

Ethereum Price Forecast: Bittrex Rules, Senate Hearings & ETH Price Strength

Ethereum News Update
Given the ongoing slide in cryptocurrencies, it seems a terrible time for optimism. But I can’t help it. Ethereum prices are holding up better than some of the others, making it a safe-haven crypto asset during these troubled times.

This could lead to the fabled “flippening,” whereby Ethereum replaces Bitcoin as the market leader. It is a game-changing prospect. But before I get ahead of myself, let’s cover some of today’s leading stories.

Markets try to fix initial coin offerings (ICOs). One of the.

The post Ethereum Price Forecast: Bittrex Rules, Senate Hearings & ETH Price Strength appeared first on Profit Confidential.

Read the original:
Ethereum Price Forecast: Bittrex Rules, Senate Hearings & ETH Price Strength

What Is Litecoin? Here’s Everything You Need To Know …

As much as bitcoin is the cryptocurrency that has the most mainstream attention, there are hundreds upon hundreds of alternative coins which have been created over the years since it was born. While some alternatives like Ethereum and ZCash have become vogue in only the past couple of years though, some cryptocurrencies have been around for much longer, like Litecoin.

But what is Litecoin? In a nutshell, its a cryptocurrency like many others, built on a similar framework and ideal as bitcoin itself. Created by an ex-Google employee a few years after the first cryptocurrency, its now one of the most commonly traded crypto-coins out there, with a market value in the billions.

If youve heard of Litecoin, youve heard of bitcoin and have a reasonable idea of what the whole cryptocurrency scene is all about, but it never hurts to have a quick refresher. Cryptocurrencies are entirely digital currencies. Think of them as the way you operate your online banking. Its not a real or physical currency, but it can have real value. That currency can be transferred between users all over the world with low fees and far faster than most traditional currencies.

One key difference between your online bank account and cryptocurrencies is that they are (for the most part) entirely decentralized. That is, they arent controlled by any one authority. The ledger, or blockchain, that records and confirms all transactions as valid is publicly viewable and editable by a large system of users all over the world.

In the case of Litecoin, those confirmations are created by a process known as mining. Thats a rather complicated topic in its own right, but suffice to say it involves performing complex mathematical calculations with powerful computing hardware. Miners who take part in it also create new Litecoins, which they are rewarded with for performing the service, along with a transaction fee.

Those calculations get more and more complicated as time goes on, limiting the influx of new Litecoin. There is also a hard limit of 84 billion Litecoin, which means there will come a day where no new tokens are created. Those factors create a scarcity which has helped drive up Litecoins value over the years, among other factors.

Launched in October 2011, just under three years after the debut of its inspiration, bitcoin, Litecoin was created by former Google employee, Charlie Lee. Described by its creator as the silver to bitcoins gold, Litecoin is based on the Bitcoin Core client. Litecoin was designed to emulate its predecessor, extolling the same virtues of decentralization but with a few key features that arguably make it a more nimble alternative.

While bitcoin blocks can only be processed every ten minutes part of the reason it has experienced longer confirmation times with the recent influx of users Litecoin reduced that to a targeted 2.5 minutes per block. While that hasnt always been possible throughout the cryptocurrencys history, it is the average that makes transactions faster and cheaper to confirm, or validate.

The other key difference Lee employed with Litecoins creation, was in his choice of hashing algorithm. All cryptocurrency mining employs complicated algorithms. Most are based on the same SHA-256 algorithm that bitcoin uses, but Litecoin leveraged the Scrypt algorithm instead. Easier to compute, lighter on the workload, its what enables the faster confirmation of Litecoin transactions. There is an argument to be made that its enabling of faster transactions is a security issue, since less thorough checks of the data are required, but it hasnt manifested in an obvious problem in the real world as of yet.

These two main differences from bitcoin make Litecoin very much its own cryptocurrency and more than just a pretender to the throne. Over the years it has garnered a base of thousands of owners all over the world, who between them trade millions of dollars worth of Litecoin every day.

Although cryptocurrencies (and the blockchain technology its built upon) could have serious potential for streamlining a variety of industries around the world especially when you factor in smart contracts they have two main functions as it stands. The first of those is in transactions.

Cryptocurrency, operating in the same manner as traditional, fiat, currencies can be used to pay for goods and services. Although cryptocurrencies have a reputation for being used on the darknet for drug transactions and facilitating ransomware attacks, a growing number of legitimate, legal outlets accept Litecoin as legal tender. Whether youre looking for jewelry, clothing, or even luxury cars, there are many places you can spend Litecoin.

Litecoin is also a great cryptocurrency for giving money to friends and family. Due to its shorter block time, fast confirmations and fees that rarely go north of a fraction of a dollar, Litecoin can be transferred to anyone quickly and cheaply if you have their wallet address.

Like some of the other alternative cryptocurrencies out there, interest in Litecoin as a transactional medium has increased in recent months thanks to bitcoins value spike and its escalating transaction fees. Although there is no guarantee that Litecoin wont bump up against such problems itself should it see a large influx of new owners, for now at least its a great medium for transferring wealth quickly online.

Although cryptocurrencies like Litecoin were originally intended to conduct transactions online, much like traditional currencies, their value does increase and decrease based on a number of market factors. Cryptocurrencies however, with their lack of governmental backing, tend to fluctuate far more thats why bitcoin and others have seen such an interest from mainstream investors in recent months.

Litecoin too has been on quite the tear and has made many people very wealthy in a relatively short period of time. Like many other cryptocurrencies in the past year, its value has increased exponentially. At the start of 2017 a single Litecoin was worth just $4. At its peak in December that same year it hit $371, correcting to $178 at the time of writing.

Thats an enormous increase that shows that just because bitcoins are worth thousands of dollars, that Litecoin cant also be a great store of value. Some, like its creator, would argue that Litecoin has a greater potential as a cryptocurrency because of its better transactional abilities. While that might not necessarily affect its value directly, it could make it more popular, which in turn creates its own potential for a value increase over time due to demand.

When Litecoin was first created, it was just one of a handful of cryptocurrencies. Today its one of many more than 1,300, with more being created every day. While it has greater name-recognition than most cryptocurrencies, its market cap of near $10 billion is far less than the biggest players and individual coins are worth much less too.

That shouldnt put people off it though. It truly shines as a regular transactional medium, with only bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple seeing a greater daily trade volume. There may be leaner coins and some with more advanced features than Litecoin today, but it has firmly cemented itself as one of the most important cryptocurrencies. It might not quite be the silver to bitcoins gold anymore, but it is one of the most precious digital metals we have, and it doesnt seem likely to fall from favor anytime soon.

See the article here:

What Is Litecoin? Here's Everything You Need To Know ...

NSA Wa

The Tentative schedule is posted on the tournament page. We will be filling in more dates as they are confirmed.

I wanted to give you a heads up on the dates of the tournaments that fill up fast.

TACOMA OPENER - March 17-18

ICE BREAKER - April 6-7-8 ( Tri Cities)

STERLING INVITE - May 26-27-28 ( Wenatchee)

NSA STATE - June 29-30 / 1 ( Tri Cities)

WINNING IS FOR TODAY, SPORTMANSHIP IS FOR A LIFE TIME.

Steve Jensen

NSA FP

State Director

.

NSAWA.com is your Washington State source

for Girl's Fastpitch Softball Tournaments.

Steve Jensen State Director

425-308-1024

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

More:

NSA Wa

Posted in NSA

The most anti-transhumanist popular SF | Page 2 …

Star Trek and Dune came out in the late 1960s. Transhumanism, as we think of it in a modern sense of a utopian ideology, only really get real traction in the 1980s or thereabouts.

Click to expand...

We are only now even starting to scratch the surface of what might even reasonably be considered transhumanism with our personal data networks and the very beginnings of even rudimentary MMI technology being released to the public.

None of the Star Trek series, for example, were released by the time that transhumanism 'became a thing', if it even has now. When Star Trek was big, people tied- and still do, in many respects- genetic engineering to eugenics and the Nazis; look at the debate going on over, say, sex-selective abortion.

In the respect that transhumanism has made it big in Sci-Fi, I think that was probably a product of the information revolution in the late 80s and early 90s. To that end, however, I think that its proponents vastly underrated the difficulties of creating a useful MMI and vastly overrated the potential utility of practical mechanical augmentation, while underrating the growth patterns and effects of our information networking society. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that in 15-20 years we've passed what originally was conceptualized as transhumanism by, in many ways, simply due to a different understanding of technological growth patterns. Just like how sci-fi from the early 20th century shows colonies on the moon, humanoid robots, and video phones but no email.

Continue reading here:

The most anti-transhumanist popular SF | Page 2 ...

What is Bitcoin Cash?

Bitcoin Cash is a cryptocurrency, or digital money. A revolutionary invention as important as the internet. Bitcoin Cash can be used to buy/sell anything just like the USD. Bitcoin Cash is a global trusted computing network to transfer money/value.

Mining is how Bitcoin Cash (out of the possible 21 million) come into existence on a set schedule. People run specialized hardware that solves very difficult calculations that keep the network secure.

This process is required so that no one can cheat like trying to spend the same funds twice. All miners race to try to "solve" the equation so that they can win the reward, which is currently 12.5 Bitcoin Cash. There is a random winner awarded roughly every 10 minutes. All the transactions that took place in those 10 minutes get cemented into the Bitcoin Cash database, or more commonly referred to as the Blockchain.

We know this is safe because it is very very expensive to try to attack the Bitcoin network. The incentives have proven to work since 2009 and demonstrate it is more profitable to play by the rules than to try to attack the network.

It is the combination of scarcity and utility that makes crypto valuable. There will only ever be 21 million coins total and the user experience for sending cryptocurrency instantly is much better than dealing with banks. Crypto is to banking as Email is to the post office. Disruptive technologies are too important to ignore.

Finance is not taught, but it's super important to understand. Bitcoin Cash promotes savings over spending, which causes people to become a bit more disciplined and financially conscious. There are going to be many use-cases that were not possible before with old money. Owning some Bitcoin Cash acts as your ticket into this future economy. Many industries will be disrupted and long term holders are likely to see healthy gains in their wealth.

It's important to know you can own a fraction of Bitcoin Cash . They are divisible down to 8 digits and it is not a requirement to buy 1 full coin.

In the white paper, it is described as a "free open source peer-to-peer electroniccash system that is completely decentralized". This means being able to send money to anyone for cheap without a middleman being able to tell you no.

We have a permissionless way of accessing data called the internet. We needed a form of money that cannot be corrupted or controlled by bankers and politicians. By removing human manipulation from the equation, we have money that makes sense, is fair, censorship resistant, and reliable.

As it is still relatively early, the ecosystem is not as mature yet and arguably not mainstream ready.

The everyday user may still be overwhelmed or intimidated by this technology, but this continually improves over time.

Merchant adoption is increasing all the time, but there is a limited number of places to spend your crypto in retail locations at the moment.

The market value is likely to fluctuate in price very often until the ecosystem is much more mature. This may take years, but the overall trend is upwards in the long term compared to inflationary fiat currencies.

There are some people who are very threatened by Bitcoin Cash and seek to discredit it as much as possible.

Satoshi Nakamoto is the pseudonym for the creator of bitcoin. Satoshi was likely a small group of individuals who each brought something to the table in order to make Bitcoin work. The original Bitcoin reached capacity many years ago and stopped functioning as originally intended. The situation was like google saying we have served X amount of searches today, sorry you can't use google. Except instead of google, it was a small group of well funded developers who wanted bitcoin to go in a different direction than Satoshi did.

Years of debate went by and no progress was made towards fixing Bitcoin. Many people began to lose hope that things would ever get better. A lot of developer talent and startup potential moved onto altcoins instead. Transactions were backlogged and fees rose to several dollars and priced many people out of using Bitcoin. The same developer team introduced the most radical change to Bitcoin to date which would fundamentally change the code forever. In order to preserve the proven track record of the way Satoshi envisioned Bitcoin to be, Bitcoin Cash was created. You can read the longer history here.

This site contains a Bitcoin Cash Faucet which can send you a small amount of Bitcoin Cash for free. No strings attached. All you need is a wallet to start receiving cryptocurrency.

The more common methods of obtaining Bitcoin Cash involve exchanges like Shapeshift, or Kraken. An exchange is a company that provides a platform to trade one currency for cryptocurrency, or vice versa. Read more on theResources page.

See original here:

What is Bitcoin Cash?

Bitcoin Cash: The New King of Cryptocurrency? | Investopedia

Less than a month ago, a few new lines of code and a verbal agreement forked the Bitcoin blockchain, creating a newer, more nimble version called Bitcoin Cash. Since its arrival on Aug. 1, the infant cryptocurrency has more than doubled in value from $300 to a price north of $600, and investors are now wondering if its popularity poses a serious threat to the Bitcoin throne.

Bitcoin Cash is essentially a clone of the existing Bitcoin blockchain with one important feature: additional block size capacity (more on that later). Those who owned Bitcoin before the split now own an equal amount of Bitcoin Cash, meaning Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin each now have 16.5 million units in circulation. Multiply Bitcoin Cashs recent price of $607 times 16.5 million units, and you arrive at a market cap of $10.8 billion, making it the third-most valuable cryptocurrency at around 16% of Bitcoins $69 billion market value. An asset with the same value as streaming-music service Spotify or social media giant Twitter was born overnight.

Source: Coinmarketcap.com

Bitcoin Cash got off to a slow start but sprang to life as the cryptocurrencys mining algorithm self-corrected to attract profit-seeking computers, known as miners. These super-computers are the beating heart of the blockchain responsible for verifying and embedding transactions in digital ledgers, called blocks. Once the market noticed a rise in the rate at which blocks were being produced, known as the hash rate, investors bid up the price of the resulting tokens.

Source: Tradingview.com

An Answer to a Years-Long Dispute

When Bitcoin was first introduced in 2009, block sizes were unlimited. To buy and sell Bitcoin, wallets required users to keep a record of the entire blockchain. It was as if one had to download the entire history of Google searches to find something on the internet. This led to an abundance of Denial of Service (DOS) attacks as hackers stuffed blocks with meaningless transactions making it difficult for users with slower computers to transact. To alleviate this problem, the Bitcoin community moved to limit block size to one megabyte (MB)

Currently, the 1 MB block size limits transaction speeds to four to seven per second, which cant compete with Visa's and Paypals 2,000 transactions per second. Newer, innovative wallets permit an increase in block sizes, and the introduction of Bitcoin Cash is necessary to scale for mass adoption as a payment platform.

The new cryptocurrency attempts to solve the scaling problem by increasing existing block sizes from 1 MB to 8 MB, thereby increasing the amount of transactions processed per day and improving transaction speed.

Critics argue that larger block sizes will lead to the centralization of mining operations, as larger blocks require professional hardware. This would run counter to the idea of a decentralized network of miners, and limit oversight of the Bitcoin network to a few large miners and nodes.

What Has Happened Recently

To run a cryptocurrency, miners must confirm and account for recent transactions and mine new blocks. Their profitability is the spread between the value of the block reward (price of the coin x # issued per block) and the amount of resources needed to mine the block (known as the difficulty). The hash rate is the speed at which blocks are created. Higher hash rates make mining coins more lucrative as it increases the opportunity of mining the next block and receiving the reward.

The blockchain contains an important, self-correcting mechanism that can either speed up or slow down the hash rate when necessary. Essentially, the mathematical formula at the heart of the blockchain goes through a difficulty adjustment every 2,016 blocks. The difficulty is set so that 2,016 blocks will be mined just about every two weeks. If the pace is too slow, the difficulty adjusts downwards; and if the pace is too quick, the algorithm becomes more difficult to solve.

As Bitcoin Cash struggled out of the gates to attract miners, its difficulty adjusted sharply downward, making mining an extremely lucrative proposition. Accordingly, Bitcoin miners chased the easy money and shifted capacity to Bitcoin Cash. Hash rates subsequently skyrocketed, and this caused havoc to the original Bitcoin network. In just the past few days, the Bitcoin hash rate has been halvedslowing down the network and raising transaction prices.

Source: Blockchain.info

Reports on social media say that Bitcoin transactions are taking hours or even days to confirm. However, the slower hash rate means that Bitcoins difficulty adjustment will be lowered for the next cycle and lead to an increase in miners.

The Bottom Line

Blockchain miners are now shifting capacity to Bitcoin Cashs larger block-sized network, which is temporarily troublesome for the Bitcoin network. However, the difficulty adjustment for both networks will ensure that Bitcoin remains the king cryptocurrencyat least for now.

Excerpt from:

Bitcoin Cash: The New King of Cryptocurrency? | Investopedia