If Satoshi was not an unknown person, would Bitcoin have turned out different?

[Sutters Mill]

"What was it like, creating the Bitcoin protocol?"

"Ha! Actually - a funny story about that. I got the idea from a pretty wicked acid trip. I'd just started living with my son again, and he was breaking all my liquor bottles against the walls for some reason. Anyway, I noticed all the little pieces coming together, through no central movement, and reforming. I was wondering what could be guiding the broken glass to reform. I kept thinking about it and thinking about it... I didn't sleep for days. Suddenly, I figured it out: public-key cryptography. God was using his private key to authorize the reformation of the bottle, but because he didn't want to actually reveal his identity, he instead used a hash. You know, he signed a message, basically. This hash gave the Earth spirits permission to reform the bottle, and then I thought... I'm fuckin' wasted, and I want to forget being wasted, but the liquor store probably won't sell to me right now because I'm fuckin' wasted. Real chicken-egg problem. I realized I needed to create a new identity which could buy liquor for me.

Actually, my full plan was to launch drones and create a kind of genome-based open ID system. Basically, I wanted to send off a drone which carried my public key linked to my genome and some authority's (something like web of trust) attestation of my name and identity. I'd sign a message to my drone, authorizing it to pick up more liquor. Well, I live in a small town and the few banks in the area all refuse service to me, so I was thinking, you know, maybe I could use some type of distributed database saying I owned money, and maybe I deposit it at some bank. I mean, I wasn't sure if they'd believe me, so I thought maybe I could just stab the clerk, but then went right back to thinking about that reformed liquor bottle my son broke and realized the answer."

Where's this quote from?

I felt wasted after reading this...!

[javedjuss]

Thanks for good forum. Hope to see more soon

[Kluge]

"What was it like, creating the Bitcoin protocol?"

"Ha! Actually - a funny story about that. I got the idea from a pretty wicked acid trip. I'd just started living with my son again, and he was breaking all my liquor bottles against the walls for some reason. Anyway, I noticed all the little pieces coming together, through no central movement, and reforming. I was wondering what could be guiding the broken glass to reform. I kept thinking about it and thinking about it... I didn't sleep for days. Suddenly, I figured it out: public-key cryptography. God was using his private key to authorize the reformation of the bottle, but because he didn't want to actually reveal his identity, he instead used a hash. You know, he signed a message, basically. This hash gave the Earth spirits permission to reform the bottle, and then I thought... I'm fuckin' wasted, and I want to forget being wasted, but the liquor store probably won't sell to me right now because I'm fuckin' wasted. Real chicken-egg problem. I realized I needed to create a new identity which could buy liquor for me.

Actually, my full plan was to launch drones and create a kind of genome-based open ID system. Basically, I wanted to send off a drone which carried my public key linked to my genome and some authority's (something like web of trust) attestation of my name and identity. I'd sign a message to my drone, authorizing it to pick up more liquor. Well, I live in a small town and the few banks in the area all refuse service to me, so I was thinking, you know, maybe I could use some type of distributed database saying I owned money, and maybe I deposit it at some bank. I mean, I wasn't sure if they'd believe me, so I thought maybe I could just stab the clerk, but then went right back to thinking about that reformed liquor bottle my son broke and realized the answer."

Where's this quote from?

Parallel Universe.

[jarhed]

Moreover, the community can do something based on consensus. If most bitcoin supporters really think its not appropriate for Satoshi to have such a great amount of BTC, then we can apply a patch so that the BTC in the first 30000 blocks are un-spendable (just like block 0). Since this is the consensus of the majority, a hard fork should be fine. Moreover, those BTC are not spent anyway (haven't verified, could be wrong) so adding this patch will not affect the history.

Not gonna happen, ever.

Heck, that statement borders on Blasphemy.

[marcotheminer]

Personally: I dont think so, he wouldve gotten a lot of attention, thats all.

[x86Daddy]

Yeah, it would be a complete distraction, far more than it's used today... Luddite news reports always mention that Bitcoin was "created by a shadowy unknown person!"  They're dissapointed that they can't point to a figure that can be character assassinated.  Look at Wikileaks... normal humans, which make up most mainstream media viewership, want dramatic stories and cannot think logically.  Attackers of Wikileaks loved the opportunity presented by Assange.  Whether Assange did or didn't do whatever the sex charges allegate, it was used to thoroughly derail the conversation about the merits of Wikileaks that had begun to emerge.

If Satoshi was a known person, I'm 100% certain that a guided discussion of his terrible terrible sexual activities would be the main topic discussed in any news report about Bitcoin.  I don't think this is a tin-foil hat point of view either.