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Comment by michaelt | Hacker News Reader

  isn't the lack of a denial in this instance tantamount to 
  an admission? I mean, if it were me, [...] responded to 
  questions about Bitcoin with "bit-what-now"?

If all his friends and family know he shares his name with the creator of bitcoin, he might have already heard all the jokes and think "not this shit again" as well as not being able to credibly deny knowing about it.

There's a british general who goes by Mike Jackson when his real name is Michael Jackson [1]. If someone asked him to moonwalk I'd expect the resigned frustration of someone who has heard that lame joke a thousand times before - rather than him denying having heard of the pop singer of the same name.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Jackson

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As someone with the name Paul Brown in the Cincinnati area (where the Paul Brown stadium is) I deal with this almost daily. I'm sick of meeting someone and about 75% of the time they go "oh, do you own the stadium?". I'm seriously starting to think about moving far away so I don't have to hear it anymore. I don't even like football!

I also went to high school with a guy named John Conner and everyone use to thank him for some day saving the human race from the machines.

People also probably give you immense grief over the ridiculous tax deal the stadium has with Hamilton County. :p

I wish, most people don't seem to care. I for one would rather see my tax dollars go to something useful like education.

Hearing jokes about it and having a reporter turn up from a well-known national news publication seeking an interview are two entirely different things. Really, these are the sort of arguments I'd expect from a surly 13-year old.

If he was some coincicentally named private individual, the obvious thing to do would be to deny being the celebrity Nakamoto, and possibly to advise the reporter to discuss the matter with his lawyer.

> If he was some coincicentally named private individual, the obvious thing to do ..

Why is that so "obvious"? That may be the obvious choice for you, and maybe it's even the "correct" choice.

But fame is incredibly enticing ego food.

In which case he has no reason not to say 'why yes I am that international man of mystery!' and milk it for all the gains its worth, eg TV interviews and speaking invitations and so on. Lots of other people have done this sort of thing, and there's nothing illegal about it, just a social cost if you're caught out. It doesn't make sense to argue that he's shunning the media and seduced by fame at the same time.

If he did that, he'd quickly be found out as a fraud. Being demure is the only way to be a "plausible" Satoshi.

I'm not saying he is or he isn't. I don't know, obviously, but I do know that people do things for many strange and contradictory reasons.

Here's a real world example: Hundreds of people have claimed that their father, brother, friend, odd uncle, strange neighbor etc were the Zodiac killer.

Many such claims came along with a lot more "evidence" than has yet been presented about "Dorian S. Nakamoto". Clearly, most of those claims (or all) are false.

Or even something like this: http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2012/11/sweden-notorious-s...

I don't think Satoshi Nakamoto is as well-known as Michael Jackson. Nobody knows who Satoshi Nakamoto is where I live. If they did, I'd be surprised.

I was surprised the cop mentioned in the article knew.

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