THE WHITEPAPER and Your Observations

[aoluain]

So a couple of hours to go and its happy birthday to the whitepaper,
What are your observations on the whitepaper in general?

A simple observation i made is that there are 8 references listed in the whitepaper.
This obviously means the Satoshi Nakamoto entity was well educated and well
read in the various elements combined to create bitcoin

So the 8 references are the primary ones it is safe to say there were many many
books and much much more research gone into the creation which throws up
more questions which will never be answered.

How much more material was researched in order to either contribute or to be
eliminated from the project?

How long did that research take?

[1714284883]

1714284883

[theymos]

Honestly, the whitepaper was never that important to me. I wrote some of the first-ever documentation on the (old) wiki, and while I used the paper to get a general understanding, most of my info came from Satoshi's forum posts and the code itself. The paper was meant to get the basic idea of Bitcoin across quickly to people who already had a fair bit of crypto knowledge, not to explain the whole system. It's impressive that it does manage to explain a big chunk of Bitcoin in 8 pages, and there are several interesting quotes, but some people are over-obsessed with it. If you want to understand Bitcoin's technology and history, you'd be far better off reading all of Satoshi's forum posts, for example, which have a lot more detail. I particularly discourage people from pointing newbies to the paper as their first explanation of Bitcoin; the paper was directed at people who already knew the internals of similar P2P systems, and it is terrible at explaining things to newbies.

That said, the paper is important as a milestone and as a statement. Satoshi's post announcing the paper was the first that anyone had ever heard of Bitcoin; it attracted Hal and a few others, who engaged in some pre-release beta testing and spread the word to others. And even in this, the world's first exposure to Bitcoin, the ideological basis for Bitcoin was made clear.

The "next birthday", when the code was released, is more meaningful to me. As we've seen endlessly in the years since, anyone can write a paper with a bunch of ideas. Satoshi single-handedly writing Bitcoin in fully-working form is more meaningful and impressive, and it stands as a testament to the fact that even one man can start a revolution which totally changes the world if he works hard enough at it.

[Steamtyme]

When it comes to the whitepaper in general, I like that it makes a little more sense each time I've read it over. At first I read it because it seemed to be the logical place to start after hours of then current research. At the time I'd say 35% made sense to me and I understood about 15%. Not great but it did lend a base for me to begin with; and with it already being 8 years in there were plenty of "BTC for Dummies" style explanations to help fill in the gaps.

Now I believe it serves the purpose of a beacon of beliefs and acceptance of the system it describes. It's earned the place of a historical document and I believe the future will hold it as such, with the obvious difference being a lack of a "physical" original.

If you want to understand Bitcoin's technology and history, you'd be far better off reading all of Satoshi's forum posts, for example, which have a lot more detail.

If not already done arranging these in such a fashion to work as a FAQ and explanation topic somewhere would be a neat feature. Or maybe a webisode for the forum youtube channel.

The "next birthday", when the code was released, is more meaningful to me. As we've seen endlessly in the years since, anyone can write a paper with a bunch of ideas. Satoshi single-handedly writing Bitcoin in fully-working form is more meaningful and impressive, and it stands as a testament to the fact that even one man can start a revolution which totally changes the world if he works hard enough at it.

I have been taking steps to try and develop a basic knowledge so that code makes at least a little sense to me. It seems like  another layer of comprehension is there that I could get by without but is more of a curiosity. Even without the understanding the feat in itself is one of greatness like you said; and one that anyone can appreciate if they take the time to realize the scope.

[Marcel666]

It's impressive that it does manage to explain a big chunk of Bitcoin in 8 pages, and there are several interesting quotes, but some people are over-obsessed with it.

It usually puzzled me going through whitepapers of ICOs, and finding, 50-60 pages of file. While bitcoin's is just 9.
That confirms your statement that it is not an 'over view' like most ICOs are. Buy rather satoshi trying to put out in a few words the great idea he had in his mind.
And of course, it wasn't soliciting investments like most whitepapers these days are.

[aoluain]

I have to admit to sending newbies to the whitepaper but i agree with the points
Made to send them instead to Satoshi's posts.

I gave also come to realise over the last few days that the more important date
is the January the 3rd one as it celebrates when the genesis block was moned
and so bitcoin was truly born.

It is a feat to be able to explain so much in 8 pages, something most ICO'S could learn....

[Vernfwiles]

Well, the white paper is not supposed to be that important, also it is just a side track in this business. So if you're interested in quiring about bitcoin, you might directly go to the white paper site.

[treatWy]

Whitepaper was the product of idea to engage in much wider opportunities where change is always available. Now, we can obviously observe how volatile the market due to ideas of change matters.  It could be the fruit of everything change so the upgrading to the system is necessary. Back then it could be as easy to understand but in nowadays something missing.
Understanding some points doesn't mean memorising all written in white paper but picking the important is enough guidelines to go furthermore in crypto.

[Ted DiBiase]

Well considering the concept of digital decentralized currency had been floating around for quite a long time it is hard to determine when did Satoshi picked up the project that would change/revolutionize digital currency forever. As there are a lot of gaps information wise as to in-depth information regarding the start and progress of the project it is hard to say how it started and progressed. All we really know and see is what became of it which was back in 2009. It is still very much a mystery about the effort and amount of time that went into all of this.

[semes]

I think white papers are very important. When I look carefully, I think whitepaper contains very important information about the project. In particular, SCAM projects may be able to detect with whitepaper review.

[dothebeats]

The first thing I noticed on the whitepaper is how well-made it was and how in-depth every explanation was when it comes to economics and the current state of our financial system. Frankly speaking, I never understood any of the references Satoshi made regarding cryptography, but the idea was there. It helped me understand what bitcoin really is and what its purpose is to our current world. It gives basic understanding, but if you want in-depth knowledge regarding bitcoin, theymos is right, Satoshi's forum posts are a far more better reading compared to the whitepaper.