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The Face Behind Bitcoin?

mag.newsweek.com

621–630 of 703 posts

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#621

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the paradox of the deeply conservative anti-federal government types who work for the government - directly or as a fed contractor Those are the people who have a realistic, first hand understanding of the government innerworkings. Also, a contradiction between believing that allocation of capital would be more efficient under a less centrally-influenced system, and being willing to accept higher pay and benefits fro…

As a federal/state contractor myself. That's what happened to me. My job has driven me to a libertarian viewpoint over a period of years after seeing inefficiency and wastefulness of the organizations I deal with. This is across many state and federal departments. And I do make an effort to push them toward more cost effective technologies and processes but the sad truth is they don't want to hear it because they pre…

The thing is... you'd likely see inefficiency and wastefulness in most private sector jobs as well. Almost guaranteed.

There are some types of services, like crucial infrastructure, where failure is not an option, hence government, hence sacrificing efficiency in favor of dependability.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#622

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.

Apart from the guy not saying 'no, I am not the inventor of Bitcoin, you have the wrong Satoshi Nakamoto.'

Assuming that he actually said that, of which the author of the article has no proof.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#623
post #507
post #487

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ITYM "no government-sponsored space program".

Right. The whole SpaceX/Armadillo Aerospace/etc. situation that is developing now is almost definitionally Libertarian.

I'm just noting nothing in libertarianism opposes space exploration per se, unlike National Endowment for Arts which is a direct antithesis to libertarianism.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#624

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh god yes. I'm currently a relatively junior flunky in the Marine Corps, and the GS civilians who work here are hilarious. "We need to cut the fat!" We work at a minor airbase in the middle of nowhere... oh. Oops. Whatever we are, it sure as hell ain't muscle. "Government spending is out of control" while talking about how they exploit the DTS system to get as much per diem as possible. "Those lazy people who expect…

My anecdotes differ from yours. Most of the people I have met that are living that dichotomy are very aware of it, and just think "well this is the system we live in, so I have to play along until it changes". Many of them are really bummed about it. Sometimes being the change you want to see in the world is impractical, but that doesn't necessarily mean you have to change your mind about it.

BRB, having another child.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#625

This is Newsweek's watershed. They're laying Satoshi Nakamoto on the line to recreate their brand as a hard-hitting journalism publication. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsweek EDIT: The relevant parts of the wiki article are at the end of the first section. 1. Newsweek merged with The Daily Beast. 2. Newsweek ceased print publication and transitioned to an all-digital format. 3. IBT Media acquired Newsweek. IBT Med…

Nice catch!

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#626
post #478

Meta: this submission has 811 point and was posted only 5 hours, yet it is at #11 position. Is this the regular HN algorithm at work or is it weighted down due to its controversial nature? (I'm not trying to imply there is any conspiracy... I actually remember reading that submissions with a high vote to comment ratio are weighted down but I'm not completely sure)

Probably it has been flagged because it's full of speculation.

It's also full of bitcoin, which has been crapping all over HN for weeks now.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#627

Earlier quoted context omitted.

isn't the lack of a denial in this instance tantamount to an admission? I mean, if it were me, [...] responded to questions about Bitcoin with "bit-what-now"? If all his friends and family know he shares his name with the creator of bitcoin, he might have already heard all the jokes and think "not this shit again" as well as not being able to credibly deny knowing about it. There's a british general who goes by Mike…

I don't think Satoshi Nakamoto is as well-known as Michael Jackson. Nobody knows who Satoshi Nakamoto is where I live. If they did, I'd be surprised.

I was surprised the cop mentioned in the article knew.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#628
"Reverse Polish notation" - was this originally Hungarian notation before some layer of "fact checking" ruined it? I have no idea how one would program using RPN.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#629
I'm going to skirt the ethical questions being asked, assuming everything done to get this information was legal and such and the accuracy of it lives within the bounds of journalistic integrity (of course none of that necessarily makes it ethical, but like I said, circumventing that question for now).

All that said, by the number of reactions I'm reading here I get the impression that in the Bitcoin world someone with a significant amount of wealth has to fear for their life? What is the difference between Satoshi Nakamoto and any other individual of significant wealth, i.e. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Rupert Murdoch, etc. While I don't have any exact addresses or other information about these people on hand, I'm sure I could get it rather easily.

The emphasis I keep seeing is on how he has $400 M of "pseudo-untraceable, digital cash" and assume the concern is something along the lines of it would be more difficult to extract that much from Bill Gates if you attacked/kidnapped him and get away with it vs Bitcoin, which you could theoretically extract the keys guarding the coin from the victim and quickly transfer out to other wallets without much issue.

So, the gist I'm getting, is that in the world of crypto-currency if you get wealthy ... man you better watch out because people are going to be gunning for you to steal your coin by force if they ever find out where you live. Live In Fear. If this is the great future of finance you all envision, then I really wouldn't want any part of it.

*Side note, I really don't believe any of the above but given some of the responses I've seen I think we need to take a step back and examine the conclusions that would result from some of the statements being made.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#630
post #600

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The press has a lot of knowledge of high interest to the public that they never publish for various reasons. Sometimes they can't prove a relation, other times they don't feel the public can deal with the information and finally sometimes they are simply asked not to post it. the primary kind of stories where this is normal is with politicians. In other words. You argument would have some more weight if it was used e…

> It's not in the public interest to figure out who the creator of bitcoin is. It serves no purpose. It ads no value to bitcoin. But it is in Newsweek's interest to find the creator of Bitcoin, if they can get the scoop. It's the free market plus the Bill of Rights (specifically the First Amendment) in action. A perfectly libertarian thing just happened here, IMHO.

And the free market plus the Bill of Rights plus tort law could punish Newsweek if they're wrong. See my tweet about legal liability: https://twitter.com/declanm/status/441711365888040960
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