Hello,

I'm looking for someone who would be willing to do a phone interview about how BitCoin functions and why people should use it.  The interview would take place at 8:20PM EST on any Tuesday after 1/3/11.  It would be part of a live podcast called Thinking Liberty.  We could call you, you could call us, or we can connect via Skype for the interview.  If anyone is interested, fire an email to contact@thinkingliberty.net.  Thanks,

-bosco

Thanks for the info!  I'll contact him.

Not really.  Satoshi doesn't respond to PM's except for developers.  He's so reclusive, an interview is probably out of the question.

I know plenty of Japanese, Chinese and Koreans who are able to write proper and colloquial English.  Particularly in the dev community, where English is often the de facto language of programmers for a variety of historical reasons.

Let's not make biased assumptions here.

My apologies.  I see now that my post could have been seen as offensive from certain points of view.  That was certainly not my intention.  If anything, I was just saying that I'm personally very glad that Satoshi posts in English.  Otherwise I probably would have never found bitcoin .

Bosco, I've been listening to the show. I enjoy it. You should put an address on the donate page, I'll be the first.

Nice !
Didn't listen to the show, just hope he didn't mention "world renowned cryptographers"

It's a small world isn't it?

Bruce does a great job in general, but i have one request for the next talk show.  This is the second time that when the host asks "So what *is* Bitcoin?", Bruce sounded exasperated before even starting the explanation.  There were lots of sighs and heavy pauses which conveyed an "oh god, this isn't going to be easy" type feeling.  I say, try a different elevator pitch!

I would recommend that rather than using the "combination of three technologies" speech, try starting from the point of view of two people in a bitcoin transaction.  that goes as follows:

I have a bitcoin-- nevermind what it is-- and i want to send it to Bruce.  The network wants to verify that I actually have a bitcoin to send to Bruce, and then record that transaction.  Normally for dollar transactions a central source provides that type of work and charges a fee, a la Paypal or Visa.  Well here it's a network of hard-working computers.  And the lucky hard-working computer who correctly verifies the transaction between me and Bruce gets awarded some bitcoins.  Who gives that hard-working computer the bitcoins?  The network does.  Where does the network get the bitcoins?  The network agrees, upon downloading the bitcoin application, that if a computer works hard enough to solve the transaction verification problem that they get a digital token as proof of their hard work.  And that's where bitcoins come from.

These are all good suggestions, but I think there's a common problem:  people get mixed up trying to explain bits of technology.

So, here's the challenge:  try to explain bitcoins, without explaining peer-to-peer networking.  You would come up with something like,

"bitcoins are digital cash, stored in a computer file on some website, or on your personal computer.  They can get lost or stolen just like real cash.  There is no central authority, but a network that verifies all transactions, in exchange for a tiny fee.  Currently there are 5 million bitcoins; eventually, there will be 21 million bitcoins, and that's it."