The brainiest of all: Meet this round’s Brain Game winner

Cryptocurrency might do to banks what email did to the postal industry. Traditionally, we have used banknotes for purchasing goods and services. Today, many of our payments are made using electronic money from our bank account.

Banks are in charge of keeping an accurate record of all the money that has been sent to and from your account. They make sure you don’t create new money from nowhere, and that you don’t spend your money more than once.

So, now the main question: Can we create a way to spend electronic money without needing the bank to be in the middle of every payment?

Yes, and cryptocurrency is the answer. Cryptocurrency is a secret message written in code, which works through a process called blockchain. It is simply a public record of payments that is constantly checked to make sure everything is real.

In a normal electronic payment, the bank records, checks, and updates the amount of money in your account. With cryptocurrency, when you make a payment or exchange money, the whole community of cryptocurrency users is in the middle to make sure the exchange of money is accurate.

Still confused? Let’s try thinking about this in an even simpler way.

Imagine that I only have one HK$20 note. I give you the note. Now, you have a note, and I do not. We do not need someone else to confirm this. I cannot give you another note because I only had one, and I gave it to you.

Now imagine I have one digital note, meaning that it is stored on the computer. I give you my digital note. This is where problems can come up. I could make a copy of my digital note on my computer, and then I would have created more money than I really have. To solve this problem, we need a record to track the movement of money, and someone needs to make sure this record shows the actual amount of money I have.

But, what if the person in charge of this record added more digital notes to their own account? So to solve that, we can allow everyone to look at this record of payments and check that everyone has the correct amount of money after paying or receiving funds. This is how cryptocurrency works.

If you could add a new rule to all social media platforms, what would it be?

Have you ever been exposed to mean, violent or inappropriate content on the internet? Well, 56 per cent of 11- to 16-year-olds have seen explicit and worrying material online. Oftentimes, this exposure happens on social media.  

To fight this, social media needs a system where users can vote (after verifying that they are not a bot) to remove inappropriate content. After reaching a certain number of votes, posts will be removed, and the sender will be contacted with a warning that encourages them to be more careful with their words and to reflect on how they can improve. 

There will be different ways of making sure this rule is working. Users will read the rule announcement and warnings. And social media companies will work with the government to make sure the rule is keeping harmful content out of their platforms. 

Putting this into place will create a safe and inclusive environment for all!

If you could do a variety show on TV, what would it be about?

My show, Doom Room, would involve teams dressed in silly outfits based on different themes. They would need to compete to escape various terrifying locations: abandoned hospitals, run-down prisons, haunted mansions, psych wards, etc. To escape, teams would face mind-boggling ciphers, bewildering twists, and terrifying jump scares.

After rating how well the teams complete their escape, the losing team would be subjected to punishments, such as jumping into a frozen lake, singing I Am a Gummy Bear, or juggling slime-filled balloons. Doom Room is the perfect combination of horror and entertainment.