[ExI] Satoshi Nakamoto

[Adrian Tymes]

Who's this Arel Lucas you CCed?  I've removed him from this CC for this email.

On Wed, Aug 5, 2026 at 9:00 PM Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Aug 5, 2026 at 2:56 PM Adrian Tymes via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>>
>> He has pretty thoroughly demonstrated he's not going to use it to
>> invest in anything.
>>
>> At this point, I'd assume that either he has in fact lost the key, or
>> he thinks it's in his best interest to act as if he has, and that
>> either way all those Bitcoins he has effectively don't exist.
>>
>> Find a way to demonstrate it on prototype scale.
>
>
> Sigh, 100 tons-per-day gasifiers using plasma torches for heat have been done 20 years ago. The main difference here is using induction instead of high maintenance plasma torches.

So demonstrate that.

There's also, have YOUR SPECIFIC GASIFIERS been demonstrated?

No.  You personally have never operated a gasifier, I'd wager.  You'd
think that really really shouldn't matter - only the physics should
matter.  But when you get into that kind of money, the people and
personal experience really really do matter...in the judgment of those
with money, and they are the ones who get to set the rules, regardless
of what should be the case.

> I am thinking of 2500 tons-per-day for a prototype. That's one part in 30 for what would be needed for Los Angeles. The AIs guess such a prototype would cost $200 to $300 million.

So go down to 2.5 tons per day.  I am not kidding.

> At some point, a demonstration will not work because of scaling laws. Small devices have unfavorable surface to volume ratios. A 160 MW prototype is expected to leak at least 8 MW.

So it would leak.  That's fine, so long as it leaks in exactly the
expected amount.  The prototype is not expected to be practical for
profitable operation.  It is intended to demonstrate your claims (and,
again, build up demonstrable personal experience) on a small budget.

> Would this project be useful after the singularity? Or would every home have a recycle machine?

So don't worry about it post-singularity.  Worry about the path to get
it going without waiting for the singularity.

Besides, even post-singularity, at least shortly-post, you'll have
incrementally advanced stuff, which can help.  Even godlike AIs -
especially the early generations - are constrained by physical reality
and can only move so fast.

>> I suggest identifying some trivial, tiny piece that you can do on,
>> say, $100K-200K, and proposing that miniscule starting piece to the
>> Department of Energy SBIR program
>
> Maybe. This is related to renewable energy and you know how any project related to that is doing. But then, maybe I should see if Trump would give me a billion *not* to do it.

Nah, pitch it as related to fossil fuels.  It is, technically.

> I have two or three organizations that have been bugging me to take funding from them. But I doubt they would actually part with a dime considering this project does not have a CEO, a management team, or even a corporate structure..

Tch.  Guys who say they'll fund you, until they get a good look at
you?  Yeah, I've dealt with plenty of them.  Their face people seem to
be paid purely by how many people they slam to their higher-ups
regardless of whether everyone knows that no sale is possible.  That
is not the best incentive structure, but too many of those with money
won't trust their subordinates to think and qualify/curate leads.

> I did that, worked for ten years or more on power satellites. Finally gave up when the best I could do was 3 cents per kWh and PV solar got down to 1.35 cents per kWh. The other problem was it took $60 B to get it started. By comparison, SolarSyngas is a pittance.

Eh.  There's more money flowing into power sats these days.  If you
might consider un-giving-up, you might check
https://ssi.org/solar-power-satellites/sps-news/ and look around for
anyone who's hiring or working on a design you like.