Former Bitcoin Developer Shares Early Satoshi Nakamoto Emails (vice.com) 42
Jordan Pearson, writing for Motherboard: Satoshi Nakamoto is Bitcoin's anonymous creator and absentee head of state. In the years since she (or he, or they) disappeared into the ether and left the technology in the hands of a few high-profile developers, Nakamoto's words have become nigh-gospel for some in the Bitcoin world. On Friday, a user going by "CipherionX" on the Bitcointalk forum published five emails allegedly between Satoshi Nakamoto and former Bitcoin developer Mike Hearn. In an email to Motherboard, Hearn confirmed that he shared the emails with the user. While Hearn himself, who was one of the earliest Bitcoin developers, has previously quoted most of the juicy bits from his correspondence with Nakamoto, it appears to be the first time much of the material has been shared in full. None of the emails are included on a popular database of Nakamoto's writings collected from old emails and forum posts.
Re: Has anyone said buttcoin yet (Score:1)
Yes, they already have:
http://www.google.com/search?q=buttcoin
Re: (Score:2)
Stupid millenial here. 'They' can also be singular.
For example: "I replied to an Anonymous Coward on Slashdot, because they needed a lesson in grade school grammar."
Re: (Score:1)
"They" is plural. It substitutes for a plural subject.
It is *common*, particularly in the US, to use "they" in place of the proper "he" for a subject of indeterminate gender. Shit, I do it myself in *informal* speech, as do many folks raised in the US.
This does not make it correct, nor does this make it something I use in writing where I'd like to be taken seriously.
Re: (Score:3)
From Merriam-Webster [merriam-webster.com]:
Much has been written on they, and we aren’t going to attempt to cover it here. We will note that they has been in consistent use as a singular pronoun since the late 1300s; that the development of singular they mirrors the development of the singular you from the plural you, yet we don’t complain that singular you is ungrammatical; and that regardless of what detractors say, nearly everyone uses the singular they in casual conversation and often in formal writing.
You also used to be plural, but they and you became acceptable for singular use around the same time, 700 years ago.
Re: (Score:3)
Oxford also agrees, and apparently so did Shakespeare:
Despite objections, there is a trend to use ‘singular they’. In fact, it is historically long established. It goes back at least to the 16th century, and writers such as Shakespeare, Sidney, Byron, and Ruskin used it:
There's not a man I meet but doth salute me
As if I were their well-acquainted friend
(Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors)
Re: Has anyone said buttcoin yet (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I don't care about any of that. The OP I was replying to specifically said that it was grammatically incorrect, and that is not true.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
And trying to correct people when you don't even know the topic is also incorrect. They're saying he/she/they because there's a possibility that "Satoshi Nakamoto" is a team or at least a group of people.
Re: (Score:2)
Satoshi ... is generally a masculine Japanese given name. [wikipedia.org]
What more there is to debate about? This part is clear.
Re: (Score:2)
This. Assuming the name wasn't specifically designed to disguise sex, it's clearly a male.
Of course, many believe Satoshi is actually a group of people.
Re: (Score:2)
Why would â" for a none Japanese â" Satoshi be clearly a male name?
Plenty of jap. names are unisex, and the ending vowel like a/o in italian e.g does not indicate any sex in jap.
Re: (Score:2)
Satoshi is typically a male name in Japanese.
Re: (Score:2)
Or maybe it's the opposite. She created Bitcoin with the knowledge that within a few years she could buy new shoes every hour.
Quite likely fake. (Score:2)
Wait for some sort of verification before you start a "Satoshi Said" holy war.
Re: (Score:2)
Did you even read the summary? 1) some other user published them, 2) the original recipient of the emails said they are real.
Yes, both of them could be lying, but isn't the recipient/participant in the conversation saying they're real verification for these purposes?
Re: (Score:2)
Did you even read the summary?
Yes. More importantly, I read them when they were released here:
1) some other user published them,
Thats right
2) the original recipient of the emails said they are real.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.... [bitcointalk.org]
Yes, both of them could be lying, but isn't the recipient/participant in the conversation saying they're real verification for these purposes?
Re: (Score:2)
Slashdot it totally farked at the moment BUT what I was going to say is that we only have the users word that the original recipient of the emails said they are real.
Re: (Score:2)
OK, then I guess you're saying that we don't have proof of "In an email to Motherboard, Hearn confirmed that he shared the emails with the user."
Re: (Score:2)
I am saying all we have at the moment is hearsay. Somebody gave someone else something and someone says someones else verifies it.
I am not even saying it isn't true, I am just saying that in bitcoin there are A LOT of fakes out there and until you actually get the evidence treat everything with suspicion. Fortunately, bitcoin being based in cryptography we can have overwhelming evidence that something is true or not and that makes it even more suspicious when we have a "take my word for it" story like thi
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Fake (Score:4, Funny)
Plotline from "The Usual Suspects 2: Fedora Island"
the worship of Satoshi Nakamoto (Score:2)
Nakamoto's words have become nigh-gospel for some in the Bitcoin world.
and:
None of the emails are included on a popular database of Nakamoto's writings collected from old emails and forum posts.
Who reveres this imaginary person so much? Who would maintain a popular database of his writings? Could it be Satoshi Nakamato?
Re: (Score:3)
People who understand the significance of what he created?
People who think he may still be out there?
People who think it's a pseudonym for a government group, alien invasion team, barbershop quarter?
N. Korean conspiracy? (Score:1)