From "WTF is this?" to knowledge of blockchain, crypto, & Steem..hopefully- #1

This is my first post. 03-03-18

I'm posting my understanding of blockchain technology and steem. I'll keep posting as I know more. Hopefully, someday I'll look back on this and chuckle about how little I understood. If anything I say along the way is misinformed, hopefully someone will let me know. And perhaps this will be helpful to other new people as they figure all this out.

Here's what I get so far (in no particular order):

• Steemit is like Reddit but you can earn money -sort of - actually you earn Steem. I've never been on Reddit so, not much help. But it all has to do with users voting up content. More votes equal more Steem. (I think).
• blockchain technology is all about the decentralization of information - it makes for a more secure system because no one computer or server has all the information, and it also can process transactions and information faster since it's coming from more than one place.
• Once you have Steem tokens, you can exchange them for other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, or for cash. In order to do this you have to have some sort of online wallet. Still not sure where/how to get that, or if you need a minimum amount of Steem tokens to do so.
• you also earn Steem tokens by upvoting and 'curating' - (not sure if those are the same thing).
• there's something new on the horizon called Smart Media Tokens. It has to do with another thing called proof of brain. Still not sure what they are in comparison with Steem Tokens- gotta go back and read more about them.
• Cryptocurrencies like BitCoin and Steem have no real inherent value, but have value because people decide they do. I guess if enough people buy into the idea of them, their value increases. Which is bizarre, but ...so is all of this.

That's about where I am, at this point.