I remember spending a couple hours to read the Steem whitepaper. It helped answer many of my questions. It also explained how just because Steem is inflationary, that doesn't mean the value of each token will decrease in value as more are created (thanks to Steem Power).
I do think Steem will be successful. At the same time, I am enjoying the time I spend writing thorough blog posts. If anything, I at least improved my writing style.

I tried reading the SMT whitepaper. I understood some of it, but then it got into the mostly programming aspect of it and math as well. I didn't really focus much on those parts but the rest of it was good and made a lot of sense.