
Hal Finney: Bitcoin and me (2013) - aburan28
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=155054.msg1643833#msg1643833
======
hollerith
Hal Finney's re-usable proof of work (RPOW) system preceded Bitcoin by many
years and IMHO satisfied the technical requirements of being a viable digital
currency, but failed on one of the "social" requirements: namely, RPOW needed
-- but never got -- a way to persuade millions of ordinary people to take it
seriously.

The way Bitcoin met that social requirement was to give early adopters a large
financial incentive to promote Bitcoin. The hype around Bitcoin, in other
words, in addition to setting off many bullshit detectors here on HN, greatly
increased awareness of Bitcoin. And maybe that is the thing that will make
Bitcoin more than just bullshit.

Since Hal's system provided no particular financial incentive to its early
adopters, the RPOW server Hal designed and implemented sat on the internet for
many years, waiting for a rising tide of transactions that never came.

Nice try, Mr Hal Finney, esteemed hacker.

------
oska
Fairly long profile of Hal on _Forbes_ :

[http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2014/03/25/satoshi...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2014/03/25/satoshi-
nakamotos-neighbor-the-bitcoin-ghostwriter-who-wasnt/)

------
teddyh
> _Currently I 'm working on something Mike Hearn suggested, using the
> security features of modern processors, designed to support "Trusted
> Computing", to harden Bitcoin wallets. It's almost ready to release. I just
> have to do the documentation._

Did this ever get released?

~~~
Sambdala
I'm not sure if it was released elsewhere, but that was posted on 2013-03-19,
which was also the same day of his last activity on GitHub.

[https://github.com/halfinney?tab=activity](https://github.com/halfinney?tab=activity)

~~~
teddyh
Is this maybe the modern version of Fermat’s Last Theorem?

“ _I have written a truly marvellous program to do this, but I have not yet
had time to finish the documentation._ ”

------
eddywebs
R.I.P. Hal

~~~
kinghajj
I think he would prefer something like "until we meet again, Hal."

~~~
gojomo
Rest In Pause.

------
jnbiche
What happened to the other post on Hal, that was at the top of the page with
nearly 200 votes? Did people actually flag that off the site?

~~~
daddykotex
I found this, I don't know of it's what was posted earlier:

[http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-
chat/2014-August/...](http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-
chat/2014-August/082585.html)

~~~
jnbiche
Yes, that's it, but I'm more concerned with what happened to what was
basically an eloquent tribute to Hal that was upvoted by 200 people, and
included comments by several people who knew Hal.

~~~
jacquesm
It looks like it got severely penalized and is now somewhere around page 7.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/news?p=7](https://news.ycombinator.com/news?p=7)

~~~
jnbiche
Oh, one thread degenerated into a ridiculous cryogenics debate. That's sad, I
wish people on both sides of that debate had chosen to show Hal the same
respect that other software pioneers were given when they passed away and were
featured on HN.

Especially considering how much he and other early cypherpunks pioneered
privacy-enhancing software that so many of us have benefited from (PGP and
Bitcoin, to name two).

------
rando289
Is it me or is it kinda strange/sad to see this post followed immediately by a
bunch of goofy avatars, advertising, silly forum rank titles, etc.

~~~
joeyspn
Despite the idiosyncrasies of the community, at least bitcointalk members were
there sharing and praising his work until the last days... It is not sad nor
strange, it is actually a nice thing...

The fact that he was actually quite emotional and thankful for these posts is
the only thing that matters here.

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