biology

Hal Finney (computer scientist)

Hal Finney (computer scientist) is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hal Finney (computer scientist) rather than just read about it. In short: Harold Thomas Finney II (May 4, 1956 – August 28, 2014) was an American software developer. In his early career, he was credited as lead developer on several console games.

Key takeaways

Hal Finney (computer scientist) belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hal Finney (computer scientist) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hal Finney (computer scientist) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Harold Thomas Finney II (May 4, 1956 – August 28, 2014) was an American software developer. In his early career, he was credited as lead developer on several console games. He later worked for PGP Corporation. He was an early Bitcoin contributor, and received the first Bitcoin transaction from the currency's creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

Early life and education

Finney was born in Coalinga, California, on May 4, 1956, to Virginia and Harold Thomas Finney. His father was a petroleum engineer. They later moved to Arcadia, California, where Harold Finney II graduated from Arcadia High School in 1974. Afterward, Finney attended the California Institute of Technology, graduating with a BS in electrical engineering in 1979.

Career After graduation from Caltech, he went to work in the computer gaming field for a company that developed video games such as Adventures of Tron, Armor Ambush, Astrosmash and Space Attack. He later went to work for the PGP Corporation where he remained until his retirement in 2011. Finney was a cryptographic activist. During the early 1990s, in addition to being a regular poster on the cypherpunks listserv, Finney ran two anonymous remailers. Further cryptographic activism included running a contest to break the export-grade encryption Netscape used, which succeeded in doing so. Finney was involved in the development of the first anonymous remailer, a tool for sending emails with the sender's identity concealed. He was one of the early contributors to this privacy-enhancing technology, which played a significant role in the cypherpunk movement and the broader field of online privacy. This work further demonstrated Finney's commitment to privacy and his significant contributions to the development of privacy-enhancing technologies. In 2004, Finney created the first reusable proof-of-work system before Bitcoin. In January 2009, Finney was the Bitcoin network's first transaction recipient.

Bitcoin involvement Finney wrote on the Cypherpunks Mailing List in 1992,

It seemed so obvious to me: "Here we are faced with the problems of loss of privacy, creeping computerization, massive databases, more centralization - and [David] Chaum offers a completely different direction to go in, one which puts power into the hands of individuals rather than governments and corporations. The computer can be used as a tool to liberate and protect people, rather than to control them." Finney was one of the first Bitcoin users and on January 12, 2009, he received the first bitcoin transaction from Bitcoin's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. He lived in the same town as a man named Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto (Temple City, California) for 10 years, adding to speculation that he may have been Bitcoin's creator. Finney denied that he was Satoshi Nakamoto. In March 2013, Finney posted on a Bitcoin forum, BitcoinTalk, a publication called "Bitcoin and Me (Hal Finney)" where he stated he was essentially paralyzed. He recalled finding out that Bitcoin had gained monetary value in late 2010 and mentioned that despite amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) slowing his ability to code, he still loved programming and the goals it provided. He continued to program until his death; he was working on experimental software called bcflick, which uses Trusted Computing to strengthen Bitcoin wallets. During the last year of his life, the Finneys received anonymous calls demanding an extortion fee of 1,000 bitcoin. They became victims of swatting – a hoax in which a false report to police triggers an armed response against the victim. Extortionists demanded fees of more bitcoins than Finney had left after using most of them to cover medical expenses in 2013.

Personal life In October 2009, Finney announced in an essay on the blog LessWrong that he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) writing: "I hope to be able to read, browse the net, and even participate in conversations by email and messaging (...) I may even still be able to write code, and my dream is to contribute to open source software projects even from within an immobile body. That will be a life very much worth living." Prior to his illness, Finney had been an active runner. Finney and his wife raised money for ALS research with the Santa Barbara International Marathon. Finney was an active member of the Extropians, a movement of technologists and futurists focused on transhumanism and life extension.

Death Finney died in Phoenix, Arizona, on August 28, 2014 as a result of complications of ALS, and was cryopreserved by the Alcor Life Extension Foundation.

References

External links Media related to Hal Finney (computer scientist) at Wikimedia Commons "Hal Finney home page". Archived from the original on 2014-04-03. Review: Vernor Vinge’s ‘Fast Times’ (review by Finney in Extropy) Hal Finney's profile in Forbes Magazine Emails between Hal and Satoshi Nakamoto

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hal Finney (computer scientist)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hal Finney (computer scientist) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hal Finney (computer scientist) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hal Finney (computer scientist) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hal Finney (computer scientist)

In research: Hal Finney (computer scientist) appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hal Finney (computer scientist) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hal Finney (computer scientist) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1956 births, 2014 deaths, American transhumanists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hal Finney (computer scientist) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Hal Finney (computer scientist) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hal Finney (computer scientist) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hal Finney (computer scientist) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hal Finney (computer scientist) in simple terms?

Harold Thomas Finney II (May 4, 1956 – August 28, 2014) was an American software developer. In his early career, he was credited as lead developer on several console games.

Why does Hal Finney (computer scientist) matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hal Finney (computer scientist)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hal Finney (computer scientist).