[ExI] Satoshi Nakamoto

[Keith Henson]

On Wed, Aug 5, 2026 at 6:21 PM Adrian Tymes via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

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

My wife. She is deeply involved in this topic. Spike knows her because he
used to come to our Pensfa parties in San Carlos.

>
> 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.
>
> It has been done, the plant ran for years in Canada.
.

> 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.
>
Agreed. Unfortunately the people who did run gasifiers, some at this scale
are dead, the last coal gasifiers in the US were closed in the 1940s when
town gas was replaced by natural gas. Come to think about it, that's not
entirely true. There is a plant in North Dakota that gasifies 16000 tons of
coal a day with oxygen and converts it to methane. It is a different
process, burning much of the coal to make syngas. However, I am sure one of
their engineers could be recruited to this project if it had serious
resources. In fact, I know one of them through email.

>
> > 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.
>
> I don't have money or room to build one even that small.

> 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.
>
> That's true, though the AIs are incredibly helpful. Open any one of them
up and paste in the executive summary. See what it says.

>> 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 think that would be even worse. The official line is drill baby drill.

> 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.


> I am in contact with Paul Jaffe who I think knows about my low mass space
> radiators. They may need them to cool big laser diodes.
>

Keith

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