[norea-armozel]

Why is it important to know who Satoshi Nakamoto is/was? It seems like all this desire to know the person defeats the point of the pseudo-anonymity here. I assume it's meant to keep people focused on the idea of the crypto-currency and less on any specific ideology SN may espouse. But that's just me.

[derefr]

Personally, I want to know who this guy is because he did something really rare: putting together some bits of common, old math—just bits that nobody thought to put together before—into a system with entirely novel (some would say "emergent") high-level semantics. He's an "inventor" in the most crucial sense.

And really, he's created one of the few things in Computer Science that I wouldn't argue with being patented. A blockchain is a configuration of algorithms into a novel abstract "machine", with many possible implementations, which isn't domain-specific, and that nobody had thought of—or, really, was likely to ever think of—without him.

Really, I'm just hoping that he's still actively working on other ideas; I would love to follow his research.

[Albright]

Nakamoto has made a huge splash in the world of finance, at least in certain circles. That he remains anonymous even after doing so adds quite an air of mystery. Is it really any wonder people are curious about who might have started all this, especially when he waves his anonymity in everyone's faces?

[ldd]

I would only like to add that it is a human behaviour that I find really interesting. It puzzles me in general why people admire other humans, or pretend that their heroes are not flawed.

We know that more than one figure in history cheated on their spouses, were violent towards their children, etc. Yet, people still admire other human beings, and not necessarily their particular achievements. Mind you, I am not saying that this behaviour is wrong, or bad, it is just very interesting.

Ultimately, I will probably remain puzzled by the way other people around me behave, but I guess that within certain limits, it doesn't harm anybody. Many people will continue to try to find out his or her identity.

[toyg]

It's important because he can potentially impact bitcoin prices. It's like asking why it's important to know who is the head of the FED.