海棠花儿 于 2017-11-27

我说过我有比特币情怀 比特币我不为赚钱。

我看白皮书非常早，比特白皮书迄今还是最好的区块链相关的白皮书，在于他简单易懂，李笑来现在名声很不好， 但是他眼光很好， 他曾经说过他当年为什么只投比特 不投以太， 主要就是比特简单只做一件事情，这也是根本的为什么直到目前比特都没有被黑过（不算交易所和自己扔了硬盘那些）。

但是我的情怀不仅仅来自白皮书， 比特最重要的不是币， 也不是可以换多少钱， 而是人。 早期的比特社区非常完美，人人都有情怀。我今天给大家讲一个故事。 故事从这个在推特上发出第一个和比特相关的推的人说起。

https://twitter.com/halfin/status/1110302988?lang=en

他的名字叫Hal Finney. twitter handle @halfin. 他是加州理工毕业的，PGP的第二位开发者， 第一位也是大名鼎鼎，Phil Zimmermann。 PGP 是什么我就不解释了。大家每天都用的。Hal Finney 是曾被误以为中本聪的人， 他其实不是，但是中本聪的第一笔比特币就是发给他的， 当时是测试， Hal Finney 也是中本聪之外第二个给比特币写代码的人。 

Halfin 很遗憾2013年罹患重病，写代码到生命最后一刻， 写代码给他带来了生命中最大的乐趣。 他与2014年8月28日离世，他被冷冻保存 （http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/2014-August/082585.html) 所以你会看到他的推特下面很多人向他致敬， 说 see you at the other side....

今天比特社区不再如以前那样充满这样有情怀的人， 但是水至清则无鱼， 我想Halfin 在那一边也会很欣慰今天他和中本聪的创造给世界带来如此大的改变。

下面这篇报道我昨晚又看了几遍。 it brought me to tears, 特别是看到 “It's almost ready to release. I just have to do the documentation."  在这里分享一下吧， 我想很多人会笑话我吧。

https://dollarvigilante.com/blog/2014/08/29/a-bitcoin-creator-has-died-and-he-hopes-to-see-you-in-the-fu.html

Speaking of heirs, I got a surprise in 2009, when I was suddenly diagnosed with a fatal disease. I was in the best shape of my life at the start of that year, I'd lost a lot of weight and taken up distance running. I'd run several half marathons, and I was starting to train for a full marathon. I worked my way up to 20+ mile runs, and I thought I was all set. That's when everything went wrong.

My body began to fail. I slurred my speech, lost strength in my hands, and my legs were slow to recover. In August, 2009, I was given the diagnosis of ALS, also called Lou Gehrig's disease, after the famous baseball player who got it.

ALS is a disease that kills moter neurons, which carry signals from the brain to the muscles. It causes first weakness, then gradually increasing paralysis. It is usually fatal in 2 to 5 years. My symptoms were mild at first and I continued to work, but fatigue and voice problems forced me to retire in early 2011. Since then the disease has continued its inexorable progression.

Today, I am essentially paralyzed. I am fed through a tube, and my breathing is assisted through another tube. I operate the computer using a commercial eyetracker system. It also has a speech synthesizer, so this is my voice now. I spend all day in my power wheelchair. I worked up an interface using an arduino so that I can adjust my wheelchair's position using my eyes.

It has been an adjustment, but my life is not too bad. I can still read, listen to music, and watch TV and movies. I recently discovered that I can even write code. It's very slow, probably 50 times slower than I was before. But I still love programming and it gives me goals. Currently I'm working on something Mike Hearn suggested, using the security features of modern processors, designed to support "Trusted Computing", to harden Bitcoin wallets. It's almost ready to release. I just have to do the documentation.

And of course the price gyrations of bitcoins are entertaining to me. I have skin in the game. But I came by my bitcoins through luck, with little credit to me. I lived through the crash of 2011. So I've seen it before. Easy come, easy go.

That's my story. I'm pretty lucky overall. Even with the ALS, my life is very satisfying. But my life expectancy is limited. Those discussions about inheriting your bitcoins are of more than academic interest. My bitcoins are stored in our safe deposit box, and my son and daughter are tech savvy. I think they're safe enough. I'm comfortable with my legacy.