ZK is magic, Cairo is its magic wand. If you care about ZK, you should definitely learn about Cairo. Here is why: * Cairo was built specifically for STARKs -- it is designed around ZK-STARKs. it brings optimized results to how you can use ZK. * Cairo guarantees better security standard -- because it doesn't require constant testing of the arithmetization that is applied on the proofs. The math underlying the prover was tested and proved and it's secure, so now Cairo lets you build whatever app you want with the guarantee that the proving mechanism is secure. * ZK is awesome and it's the end game but it's complex to understand. Cairo saves the need to deep dive into the complexity of zero-knowledge proofs. It's a tool for you to build your app and get all that ZK can offer, without having to deep-dive into its complexities. * General computation -- Cairo was designed for general computation: DeFi, perpetuals, gaming, NFTs, voting, whatever, all can be built with it, in an efficient way, without inefficient and cumbersome workarounds. * Community - The Cairo community is one of the most creative, talented, and enthusiastic dev communities out there. Want to start learning Cairo? You can join a basecamp or a hacker house, but what you'll see after the first steps of onboarding to Cairo, is that you will always find a Caironaut whose willing to help, teach, and support you. Bottom line: ZK is the magic, Cairo is the wand you use to wield it