119 sats \ 5 replies \ @DiedOnTitan 15 Mar \ on: Digital forgeries are hard bitcoin
This was the major takeaway for me on this case as well. Documents that used fonts that were not created at the time of the alleged date of authorship, notes taken on a paper template years before the manufacturer confirmed that that specific template was even created, and a litany of other discrepancies were meticulously uncovered revealing the depth of the fraud.
My conclusion differs a bit than yours. It's not that Wright did such a shit job, it's more that forging documents is really difficult to do well and forgery was clearly not Wright's area of expertise. A bit of Dunning-Kruger in this regard. Another takeaway impressed me, Wright has a ridiculous resume. He may be the most highly qualified cybersecurity expert in the world. Keyword qualified. His collection of certifications and degrees looks like an OCD overdose. A shame he threw all that away on his failed quest to usurp credit for the greatest innovation in money since the credit card.
it's more that forging documents is really difficult to do well
I think this is the right take. Paper forgeries are not at all easy to do well either, and mostly are only meant to stand up to fairly cursory scrutiny. We assume that digital forgeries would be easier than paper ones, and maybe they are to make, but under scrutiny their flaws can be detected too.
One of the many virtues contained in the moral maxim "Honesty is the best policy" is that honesty is a lot less work. Fabricating and maintaining lies is a lot of (misplaced) effort. Which also, sadly, can require a lot of effort from others to dispel and debunk.
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This is true of many other virtues, too -- the returns to being a good person are, in general, pretty high; and even higher at the margin, e.g., people are so hungry for kindness and thoughtfulness that even small investments pay off for years. And yet, somehow, the alpha remains un-harvested.
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Well said. Have some sats.
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A bit of Dunning-Kruger in this regard.
Dunning-Kruger is CSW's defining trait. But I think this is a good and measured take. Except:
Wright has a ridiculous resume.
As best I can tell, CSW is a bright guy who figured out how to self-present in a really masterful way to occupy a certain ecological niche; and enough to fool much dumber people (Ayers and, really, the entire BSV community) into holding his bags. That takes a very particular genius that he clearly has, but I think that's the only genius that he has. His resume and technical accomplishments seem to be mostly smoke.
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