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The Face Behind Bitcoin?

mag.newsweek.com

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Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#321

Post by marvy »

bruceb wrote: post #262
stefanve wrote: post #37

So Newsweek hires paparazzo's now? The need to disclose everything about the guy and call several family members etc is really wrong. Which I could undo my click...., no need to invade his privacy so much, "fun to know because interesting" is not a good enough reason to write the article...

Call his family, that is what reporters do to confirm a story. The man created a currency that is used world wide, is talked about every day on HN. Can you imagine if facebook was created and we didn't know who did it?

Sure, why not?

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#322

Post by citricsquid »

sktrdie wrote: post #300

Here's a comment left on a forum by this Dorian person: https://www.national-preservation.com/threads/preserved-bars... Satoshi's punctuation style with the double-space after the dot is a distinctive feature of his writing, used in both the official Bitcoin publication and on forum posts. Looking at the HTML source of that review, you can notice this exact punctuation style.

This is a very common Americanism, double spacing after periods is something I see more than single spacing. I would be more surprised if a 50s American didn't double space after periods. http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2011/01/...

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#324

Post by 3pt14159 »

bane wrote: post #101

Topic other than discussing the irresponsibility of "outing" a guy using the clever tricks of using his name and public records look ups. > A libertarian, Nakamoto encouraged his daughter to be independent, start her own business and "not be under the government's thumb," she says. "He was very wary of the government, taxes and people in charge." > What you don't know about him is that he's worked on classified stuff…

Well bane let me, a libertarian, explain to you why I worked for the government while I was a libertarian.

Sometimes the solutions that are government mandated or subsidized would appear in a different form if the government didn't run them. So, for example, mass transit, like subways would still exist if the government didn't use coercion to fund and run it, it would just be owned by private individuals. Just because the government decides that they should be the ones that run the subways and I disagree with that, doesn't mean that I should be exempt from working for the TTC's construction engineering department.

These are two different things. When you live in a system that coerces you into giving up half of your income it doesn't mean that you are in the wrong for working for it or even taking things like subsidies.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#325

Post by theorique »

bane wrote: post #101

Topic other than discussing the irresponsibility of "outing" a guy using the clever tricks of using his name and public records look ups. > A libertarian, Nakamoto encouraged his daughter to be independent, start her own business and "not be under the government's thumb," she says. "He was very wary of the government, taxes and people in charge." > What you don't know about him is that he's worked on classified stuff…

My government job is cool, because I do work and stuff.

Other people, of course, suck at the government teat, and drive welfare Cadillacs to the welfare office to pick up their food stamps and welfare check to pay for their 15 kids by different fathers.

In other words, if you do it, it's wrong and you need to change. If I do it, it's because you just don't understand.

(Edit: Do we need an irony tag? This is a humorous comment meant to illustrate one kind of mindset that exists with some of the people who hold 'eliminate all the government' kind of views.)

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#326

Post by bmelton »

Iftheshoefits wrote: post #198
gexla wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe he developed those views after working for the government. Maybe he saw something while working for the government (that we don't see) which helped shape those views. Maybe for him, given the chance to do things he found to be interesting and challenging was greater than his views of the government. This story obviously leaves a lot out from a guy who has had a long secretive life. Also, he isn't on a soapbox.…

Those things are all possible--but unlikely, in my experience. I've worked for the government and for government contractors. I did not ever come across even one single self-proclaimed conservative or libertarian individual who fell into any of the "maybe" hypotheses you describe. To a person there is one word to describe them: hypocrite. They did exactly what the parent wrote: railed against government while earning…

I've been in exactly his position, and formed much of my libertarian-style beliefs in direct response to what I saw working within the government.

Having seen it happen anecdotally in literally dozens of cases, I don't think it's that unlikely.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#327

Post by cgore »

confluence wrote: post #147
bane wrote: post #101

Topic other than discussing the irresponsibility of "outing" a guy using the clever tricks of using his name and public records look ups. > A libertarian, Nakamoto encouraged his daughter to be independent, start her own business and "not be under the government's thumb," she says. "He was very wary of the government, taxes and people in charge." > What you don't know about him is that he's worked on classified stuff…

A term exists for such self serving and convenient thinking: cognitive dissonance. The religious are no different, they rail against how wrong science is, and yet at the same time have no problem using the fruits of scientific labor like air travel, the Internet or clean water. People just do what's most convenient for them at the time.

The "science-hating religious person" is just a straw man for Dawkins and the like. Most religious people have no problem with science, and see no contradiction between the two. Many of them even are engineers, scientists, and doctors, often some of the most renowned of their fields.

The groups who actually do see a contradiction typically aren't hypocritical at all about it, to the point of not getting blood transfusions even if it means their death, to use the example of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#328

Post by weavejester »

arrrg wrote: post #206
polymatter wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I understand your comment, you believe you are ok with sounds posting that list of sensitive private information, but only if he "put the work in" to find it. I guess thats the only reason you don't post all of that information publically yourself. Your information is clearly interesting to the public, look a member of the public specifically asked for it. How about if I compensate you, is that a reasonable substi…

No, you didn’t understand me. A. You have to put in the work and actually find stuff out. That’s what journalists do. B. You have to report on something relevant and interesting to the public. Some random person who didn’t do anything of any note is not relevant. Publishing identifying information on them is unethical. Publishing identifying information on someone hugely influential is very much ethical.

So if someone does something of note, they give up their right to privacy, even if that could compromise their own safety?

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#329

Post by vezzy-fnord »

Very few people here seem to be discussing the fact that the article offers little real evidence that this is the Satoshi Nakamoto of Bitcoin, and that most likely they just set up an eccentric old man with an unfortunate name collision to end up getting mobbed by the public.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#330

Post by gnaritas »

sktrdie wrote: post #300

Here's a comment left on a forum by this Dorian person: https://www.national-preservation.com/threads/preserved-bars... Satoshi's punctuation style with the double-space after the dot is a distinctive feature of his writing, used in both the official Bitcoin publication and on forum posts. Looking at the HTML source of that review, you can notice this exact punctuation style.

Pretty much anyone who learned how to write in the age of typewriters double spaces after a period, this is not a unique trait for anyone in their mid 30's or up. Hell I still do it, it's deeply ingrained.
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