Chapter 8 - Satoshi Nakamoto’s Education

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Chapter 8

Satoshi Nakamoto’s Education

Much of this chapter includes some speculation on the part of the author.  Although, it is an educated speculation based on a number of relatable factors.  Much like a weather model can speculate about the upcoming pathway for a particular hurricane, there are factors that lead one to believe in a certain likely pathway and conclusion.  It should be made clear; the author does not know with certainty the exact pathway and historical aspects of Satoshi Nakamoto’s education.  However, with some limited interactions together with what is known publicly one can infer certain things from the known correspondence on the P2P forum and “reading between the lines” of the published White Paper by Satoshi Nakamoto.  

Thinking about the aspects of Satoshi Nakamoto’s age described earlier, it places Satoshi Nakamoto’s age at between 25 and 35 at the time of the published paper in October 2008.  This also coincides with observations of the age of the individual the author knew prior to the release of all the public information on Bitcoin.  It is highly unlikely that Satoshi Nakamoto could have developed such a visionary and concise solution to such a complex problem without both specific technical skillsets and specialized knowledge in various computer related fields.  It is known through the communications following the release of Bitcoin, there were questions people had and there is a dialogue of question/answer to get to the heart of many of the issues. One can certainly tell much thought had gone into the development of the vision, resolving certain peripheral issues and concerns but also a detailed coding element that some would know in computer sciences, but not all.  

Thus, the education encompasses, not just the computer sciences, but an understanding of cryptography, and broadly the finance and banking system, as well as a firm handle on the English language as the written word of Satoshi Nakamoto is very concise, well spoken, and responsive to the particular question at hand.  This is not a person that embellishes or flavors any given response to a question.  One might say “he did not colour his responses 😊 “ (this sentence is a not-so-subtle nod to Satoshi Nakamoto for those familiar with his writings).

Given the required training, skillset and other clues contained in the public known universe on Satoshi Nakamoto, there are only a handful of University Institutions that would be ranked very high and be on the cutting edge in the subject areas involved with a digital currency or proof-of-work technologies useful for Bitcoin.  Not considering today’s rankings in schools, but the likely outstanding candidate schools from the timeframe of 2000 to 2005 this author has arrived at one potential candidate institution.  Keeping in mind, this author knew the person that would become Satoshi Nakamoto over a period of time circa 2006 when he was not enrolled in college.  One likely candidate institution is Carnegie Mellon University.  It is a private research university in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.  This institution is located in the same region as Sovereign Bank which comes into play in the banking discussion later in this book.    

Carnegie Mellon includes a number of colleges within its campus including the College of Engineering, School of Computer Science, and School of Business to name a few.  All of which at the top of the rankings.  Carnegie Mellon is known for its advances in research and new fields of study and has many firsts in computer science.  In today’s terms, it is the first for computer science machine learning robotics.  The school includes both Computer Science Systems and Computer Science Theory amongst other relatable learning that would have been integral to the foundation for developing the concepts in what became Bitcoin.  The author cannot say with certainty the level at which Carnegie Mellon had such programs available in the early 2000’s, but it is likely there was some form of these trainings that could have very much trained, educated and influenced a person such as Satoshi Nakamoto.  

It should be noted, Carnegie Mellon as a private school is very difficult to gain entry.  It’s not entirely certain as to the difficulty in the early 2000s but it is likely to be similar in challenging entry to today demanding excellence from its applicants.  Only a small percentage of applicants today are admitted.  For example, in the year 2022 from published sources, of more than 30,000 applicants less than 4000 were admitted with less than 2000 actually enrolled.   This provides some indication of just how difficult it is and perhaps was to gain entry.  It is likely the person that is Satoshi Nakamoto had he gone to Carnegie Mellon or perhaps a similar school with restrictive high standards would have a very high intelligence and quick study of information.  I mention this because, as discussed in subsequent chapters, it leads one to infer what this person could be doing today.  This author believes the story that is Satoshi Nakamoto is not limited to only a new digital currency with global reach.  Much greater transformative work and broader ambitions are likely being worked on by this person.