WORLD SCHOLAR'S CUP 2026
Questions and Guide Answers
100% Verified Graded A+
1. What is odd about Rip Van Winkle?
Answer: Slept for 100 years and yet woke up with no impact whatsoever to his health.
2. Who is Rip Van Winkle?
Answer: A Dutch American villager living in the Catskill Mountains with his wife and children. He is a fictional
character.
3. Where did Rip Van Winkle first appear?
Answer: In 1819 in a collection called "The Sketch Book of Geottrey Crayon, Gent" by author
Washington Irving.
4. What happened to Rip Van Winkle?
Answer: He wanders into the mountains with his dog, Wolf. He encounters a group of oddly dressed men
playing ninepins. He drinks some of their alcohol and falls into a deep sleep.
,5. What is the message of Rip Van Winkle?
Answer: It's often seen as a commentary on the passage of
time and the changes brought about by the American Revolution.
6. How has life changed between 1825 to 1925?
Answer: Technological advances like railways and telephones, increased urbanization, and movements
for labor and women's rights. Democratic reforms expanded, colonial empires grew, and medical science improved
health. Global trade expanded despite challenges like the Great Depression.
7. How has life changed between 1925 to now?
Answer: Technology like the internet and smartphones revolutionized life. Civil rights movements promoted
equality. Space exploration, medical advances, and environmen- tal awareness grew.
8. Reignite
Answer: To give to life or energy to someone or something; to ignite or cause to ignite again.
9. Burning up
Answer: It can mean you're very hot, either due to physical exertion or fever. It can also be used
metaphorically to describe someone who is very excited or passionate about something.
10. Burning down
Answer: This generally refers to the destruction of something by fire, usually a building.
11. Burning with
Answer: This phrase is often used metaphorically to describe a strong feeling or emotion.
,12. Ezra Klein
Answer: American journalist, political commentator, and podcast host. He was born on May 9, 1984, in
Irvine, California. He is currently a columnist for The New York Times and the host of The Ezra Klein Show podcast. He co-
founded Vox.
13. Sam Altman
Answer: An American entrepreneur and investor, best known as the CEO of OpenAI, the artificial
intelligence company behind ChatGPT. Born on April 22, 1985, in Chicago, Illinois, Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015
and has been a leading figure in the AI industry.
14. Moore's Law
Answer: States that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles every two years, making
computers faster and cheaper.
15. Sam Altman's interview with Ezra Klein
Answer: Sam Altman discusses how AI could make everything better and cheaper, but also warns of job
losses and wealth concentration. He suggests responsible management and political measures like wealth taxes to
ensure fair distribution of benefits.
16. Purpose of Altman's essay
Answer: To design a system that embraces our technological future and taxes
the assets that will make up most of the value in that world-companies and land-in order to fairly distribute some of the
coming wealth.
, 17. The AI Revolution (Altman's essay)
Answer: We are entering the fourth technological revolution (infor-
mation age) after agricultural, industrial and computational. More progress will be made in the next 100 years than any
progress up to this point.
18. Moore's Law for Everything (Altman's essay)
Answer: Altman predicts that thanks to AI, we will reach
a point when everything is getting 50% cheaper every 2 years.
19. Capitalism for Everyone (Altman's essay)
Answer: Sam Altman predicts that taxing income will become inettective as AI transforms the economy.
He proposes a national equity fund, funded by taxing large companies' capital and privately held land, and
distributing it to all citizens over 18.
20. Implementation and Troubleshooting (Altman's essay)
Answer: Ten years after the equity
fund's implementation, each American citizen would receive $13,500 annually. He believes this amount will provide
greater purchasing power due to decreased prices.
21. Shifting to the New System (Altman's essay)
Answer: A gradual implementation of the proposed
taxes on capital and land, tied to GDP growth. He believes this approach will make policymakers popular and concludes,
"The future can be almost unimaginably great."
Questions and Guide Answers
100% Verified Graded A+
1. What is odd about Rip Van Winkle?
Answer: Slept for 100 years and yet woke up with no impact whatsoever to his health.
2. Who is Rip Van Winkle?
Answer: A Dutch American villager living in the Catskill Mountains with his wife and children. He is a fictional
character.
3. Where did Rip Van Winkle first appear?
Answer: In 1819 in a collection called "The Sketch Book of Geottrey Crayon, Gent" by author
Washington Irving.
4. What happened to Rip Van Winkle?
Answer: He wanders into the mountains with his dog, Wolf. He encounters a group of oddly dressed men
playing ninepins. He drinks some of their alcohol and falls into a deep sleep.
,5. What is the message of Rip Van Winkle?
Answer: It's often seen as a commentary on the passage of
time and the changes brought about by the American Revolution.
6. How has life changed between 1825 to 1925?
Answer: Technological advances like railways and telephones, increased urbanization, and movements
for labor and women's rights. Democratic reforms expanded, colonial empires grew, and medical science improved
health. Global trade expanded despite challenges like the Great Depression.
7. How has life changed between 1925 to now?
Answer: Technology like the internet and smartphones revolutionized life. Civil rights movements promoted
equality. Space exploration, medical advances, and environmen- tal awareness grew.
8. Reignite
Answer: To give to life or energy to someone or something; to ignite or cause to ignite again.
9. Burning up
Answer: It can mean you're very hot, either due to physical exertion or fever. It can also be used
metaphorically to describe someone who is very excited or passionate about something.
10. Burning down
Answer: This generally refers to the destruction of something by fire, usually a building.
11. Burning with
Answer: This phrase is often used metaphorically to describe a strong feeling or emotion.
,12. Ezra Klein
Answer: American journalist, political commentator, and podcast host. He was born on May 9, 1984, in
Irvine, California. He is currently a columnist for The New York Times and the host of The Ezra Klein Show podcast. He co-
founded Vox.
13. Sam Altman
Answer: An American entrepreneur and investor, best known as the CEO of OpenAI, the artificial
intelligence company behind ChatGPT. Born on April 22, 1985, in Chicago, Illinois, Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015
and has been a leading figure in the AI industry.
14. Moore's Law
Answer: States that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles every two years, making
computers faster and cheaper.
15. Sam Altman's interview with Ezra Klein
Answer: Sam Altman discusses how AI could make everything better and cheaper, but also warns of job
losses and wealth concentration. He suggests responsible management and political measures like wealth taxes to
ensure fair distribution of benefits.
16. Purpose of Altman's essay
Answer: To design a system that embraces our technological future and taxes
the assets that will make up most of the value in that world-companies and land-in order to fairly distribute some of the
coming wealth.
, 17. The AI Revolution (Altman's essay)
Answer: We are entering the fourth technological revolution (infor-
mation age) after agricultural, industrial and computational. More progress will be made in the next 100 years than any
progress up to this point.
18. Moore's Law for Everything (Altman's essay)
Answer: Altman predicts that thanks to AI, we will reach
a point when everything is getting 50% cheaper every 2 years.
19. Capitalism for Everyone (Altman's essay)
Answer: Sam Altman predicts that taxing income will become inettective as AI transforms the economy.
He proposes a national equity fund, funded by taxing large companies' capital and privately held land, and
distributing it to all citizens over 18.
20. Implementation and Troubleshooting (Altman's essay)
Answer: Ten years after the equity
fund's implementation, each American citizen would receive $13,500 annually. He believes this amount will provide
greater purchasing power due to decreased prices.
21. Shifting to the New System (Altman's essay)
Answer: A gradual implementation of the proposed
taxes on capital and land, tied to GDP growth. He believes this approach will make policymakers popular and concludes,
"The future can be almost unimaginably great."
