5 ms·

Hal Finney: Bitcoin and me (2013)

169 points by aburan28 12y ago

eddywebs 12y ago
R.I.P. Hal
- kinghajj 12y ago
  I think he would prefer something like "until we meet again, Hal."
  - clarkmoody 12y ago
    Insert appropriate mention of cold storage here.
  - gojomo 12y ago
    Rest In Pause.
teddyh 12y ago
> 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 12y ago
  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 12y ago
    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.”
oska 12y ago
Fairly long profile of Hal on Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2014/03/25/satoshi-nakamotos-neighbor-the-bitcoin-ghostwriter-who-wasnt/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2014/03/25/satoshi...
jnbiche 12y ago
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 12y ago
  I found this, I don't know of it's what was posted earlier: http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/2014-August/082585.html http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/2014-August/...
  - jnbiche 12y ago
    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 12y ago
      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 12y ago
        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).
- dang 12y ago
  We buried it because it turned into a flamewar about cryogenics instead of being about Hal Finney, and there was another post about Hal (this one) on the front page at the time.
hollerith 12y ago
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.
rando289 12y ago
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 12y ago
  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. [0] https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=155054.msg1649089#msg1649089 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=155054.msg1649089#ms...

169 points by aburan28 12y ago

eddywebs 12y ago

R.I.P. Hal

kinghajj 12y ago
I think he would prefer something like "until we meet again, Hal."
- clarkmoody 12y ago
  Insert appropriate mention of cold storage here.
- gojomo 12y ago
  Rest In Pause.

teddyh 12y ago

> 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 12y ago
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 12y ago
  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.”

oska 12y ago

Fairly long profile of Hal on Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2014/03/25/satoshi-nakamotos-neighbor-the-bitcoin-ghostwriter-who-wasnt/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2014/03/25/satoshi...

jnbiche 12y ago

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 12y ago
I found this, I don't know of it's what was posted earlier: http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/2014-August/082585.html http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/2014-August/...
- jnbiche 12y ago
  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 12y ago
    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 12y ago
      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).
dang 12y ago
We buried it because it turned into a flamewar about cryogenics instead of being about Hal Finney, and there was another post about Hal (this one) on the front page at the time.

hollerith 12y ago

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.

rando289 12y ago

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 12y ago
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. [0] https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=155054.msg1649089#msg1649089 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=155054.msg1649089#ms...