Satoshi is not an academic.

She can not possibly be.

Because if Satoshi had been a researcher hired at an academic institution, when her paper was ready, publishing it openly on a cryptography mailing list would be a terrible career move. She would have every incentive to get her paper published in a Tier 1 academic journal: she would thus get the Tier 1 points for her publication, which would count heavily when applying for her next round of research funding, which she would need to keep a job. So post openly to mailing list = worst possible career move.

So what’s the problem with these nice journals? Well, if she had published her paper in a Tier 1 journal, that paper would most likely cost you about $25 to access. Sure, if you knew the value of the revolutionizing technology, $25 would be no price to pay — but let’s be honest, in late 2008 you didn’t. So chances of you paying $25 to access a random paper you got a link to in a newsletter? Slim. Not to mention the fact that had Satoshi’s paper been published through the academic publishing system, the paper would probably have been published some time late fall 2009 or maybe even early 2010.

If Satoshi Nakamoto was hired at an academic institution, chances are pretty big none of us would have been in the blockchain space today. There would be no such thing as “the blockchain space”.

Which leads me to that big gloomy question which haunts me: Of the hundreds of millions of research articles locked up behind these paywalls — on average read by less than five people — how many Satoshi-level mind blowing breakthroughs exist, just waiting while they gather too many layers of dust, to be put in the hands of people who will build, modify, add and create something truly world changing?

We need to open up this knowledge to the world. We need to get scientific breakthroughs and thinking freely into the hands of everyone with a big problem to solve. I believe the future of humanity depends on it. Which is why I devote way more blood, sweat and tears than reasonable on Project Aiur