You base this conclusion on one line of speculation in the article? Did you miss the part where the journalist flew out, went to the person's house and spoke to them to confirm it was really him before running the story? Sounds like excellent journalism to me.
Yeah I did miss that part. From what I read, the journalist spoke to him for about 15 seconds, within which he didn't really say anything at all, and was then shown the metaphorical door.
I guess we've reached the point in the argument where you've decided to go Flat Earth Society on us. For the record:
"I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it," he says, dismissing all further queries with a swat of his left hand. "It's been turned over to other people. They are in charge of it now. I no longer have any connection."
In an exclusive two-hour interview with The Associated Press Dorian S. Nakamoto, 64, said he had never heard of Bitcoin until his son told him he had been contacted by a reporter three weeks ago.
I don't deny he's now saying this. That's the substantial difference: argumentum is saying he earlier "didn't really say anything at all" which is frankly baloney.
Funny you read "Dorian S."'s earlier quote and see something, I read it and see nothing. Or actually, not nothing, just not something that means anything.
That part about "distinctive name" actually sound like shoddy piece of journalism. It's like calling "John Smith" distinctive. But while "John Smith" means nothing for native speaker, Satoshi (if written like 聡) can be interesting pen-name, meaning "wise" (google translate won't help you this time, so check http://jisho.org/kanji/details/%E8%81%A1 ).
That doesn't mean much though. Every Japanese kanji used in a name means something on its own. Since they're used in names, they all are technicially "interesting". When people tell other people their names in Japan, they will often say how it's written in Kanji specifically to point out those distinctive meanings.
I know every kanji means something ("meaning something" is something kanji are made for, you know) and Satoshi (the Satoshi, I mean) never wrote his name in kanji by the way. But 中本聡 is something more "bitcoin-ish" than some 山本ヒロト, don't you think? So that name isn't really something unlikely to make up. I'd say randomly making it up is really really more likely than being the Satoshi's real name.
You base this conclusion on one line of speculation in the article? Did you miss the part where the journalist flew out, went to the person's house and spoke to them to confirm it was really him before running the story? Sounds like excellent journalism to me.