The Architect Archetype Behind Satoshi Nakamoto
Using personality profiling systems to explain the myths vs realities of Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin
(November, 2021) There’s a significant court case currently taking place — between Ira Kleiman and Dr. Craig S. Wright — that’s based around Satoshi Nakamoto’s original holdings and whether or not the Kleiman Estate deserves half of it (read more here).
However, what’s interesting to note is the personality of the creator behind the Satoshi Nakamoto monicker. So although the case itself is interesting, digging into Craig Wright’s personality is even more so.
If you’ve watched any of Craig Wright’s videos, read his blogs, or even heard things across the Web, you might accept him as a walking contradiction or an outright genius. These type of extreme reactions are perfectly in line with the archetype of an Architect or Creator. This article will examine all the traits I believe apply to Craig Wright, using various personality profiling systems.
🪄 The Creator
“Creator archetypes look for stability and control. They examine the boundaries of our reality and perception.”
The Creator archetype is most concerned with creating for the purity of it, going against the status quo, challenging norms, and simultaneously bringing a sense of order, beauty, and control. They may often disregard the feelings of others in their pursuit of “perfection,” but in doing so, bring a great deal of innovation and change that benefits many beyond their lifetime.
You can see this type of behavior play out in certain type of living entrepreneurs, inventors, and even fictional movie characters.
Howard Roark from Fountainhead
Howard Roark is the protagonist of Fountainhead, a screen adaptation of the novel by Ayn Rand. In the scene below, Howard makes an empowered speech about the importance of individual property, one’s own mind, and how the status quo behaves when it comes to profiting off of others’ expense.
Being the academic that he is, Craig Wright often talks publicly in a similar fashion. Every moment being an opportunity to teach others, if they are willing or open to learning. It is not uncommon for those who’ve known Craig, to share that they often understand things Craig shares, years after he shares them.
This is often due to the fact that people don’t take the time to think critically enough, so often get swept up by the opinions of others — accepting what they say as gospel or truth, without really questioning. Craig often has a way of challenging accepted “truths” — even if it means being unpopular. And people don’t often get it until much, much later.
Oz from the Wizard of Oz
The Creator archetype seeks to bring control and order through its creation(s). This would explain the tension between revealing the man (true identity behind Satoshi Nakamoto) and the myth (what people want to be true of Satoshi Nakamoto).
This is exemplified in a scene from the film The Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy reveals the “man behind the curtain”:
This is a pivotal moment in the film, because it’s not too dissimilar to how various actors in the crypto space view Craig. You can look at Dorothy and her band of happy campers as the blissfully unaware crypto community, while Craig is (in many ways) acting as the Great Wizard of Oz. Although Craig may never have intended to become Oz, that is the narrative that has played out in the real-world.
When Oz is discovered, Dorothy says, “you’re a bad man.” In Crypto Twitter, Craig’s nickname is “Aussie Man Bad.” See the similarities?
Creator vs Rebel
One thing I find interesting about all the controversy behind Craig Wright and Satoshi Nakamoto is the differences in how people perceive truth, versus the truth itself. There are many in the world who already know who the genius is behind Bitcoin and the Satoshi Nakamoto monicker, but due to the mythologizing nature of humankind, the archetype of Satoshi Nakamoto has morphed from Creator to Rebel.
What is the Rebel archetype? The Rebel (or Outlaw) archetype is epitomized most strongly by the group who helped magnify Bitcoin in the early days: the cypherpunks. A cypherpunk is any individual advocating widespread use of strong cryptography and privacy-enhancing technologies as a route to social and political change.
The Rebel archetype believes rules are meant to be broken — their rebellion leads to innovation and reform. They are not afraid of chaos and use it to bring about change. They are also known as maverick, revolutionary and, outlaw (read more). They can often be confused with the Creator types, most likely because they may be on the same spectrum. You can look no further than the famous Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs, founder of Apple
Like all human beings, everyone (including archetypes) have their light and dark sides. Steve Jobs was known to be a great innovator, storyteller, and showman. But he was also known to be horrible with people in general.
Yet, despite his dark side, there were many who still chose to stick by him. Why? Because they knew he had the ability to move people into “greatness.” To “change the world.” And this is because, despite how others may feel about it, greatness often requires a lot of sacrifice. So if you want to be liked, then do what everyone else around you does. But if you are the Creator archetype, you do what no one else is willing to do, and let history judge you.
📐 The Architect
In Myers-Briggs, the Architect personality type is introverted, intuitive, thinking, and judging. This describes Craig to a tee. Using this archetype as a base, you can then start filtering through all Craig’s content to see if what he’s trying to convey is in line with this archetype (or not).
Many personality types trust the status quo, relying on conventional wisdom and other people’s expertise as they go about their lives. But ever-skeptical Architects prefer to make their own discoveries. In their quest to find better ways of doing things, they aren’t afraid to break the rules or risk disapproval — in fact, they rather enjoy it.
Craig is often perceived as not being good with people, can come across as arrogant, and often goes on tangents when communicating with people. This, again, is not out of step of his personality type. See here under Strengths & Weaknesses of the Architect type.
Architects might be knowledgeable, but they’re not infallible. Their self-assurance can blind them to useful input from other people — especially anyone they deem to be intellectually inferior. These personalities can also become needlessly harsh or single-minded in trying to prove others wrong.
The Architect of The Matrix
In modern cinema, you can see this archetype play out in various films. Below is a clip of the infamous “Architect” from The Matrix.
Hari Seldon — Founder of Psychohistory
In Isaac Asimov’s TV series adaptation, Foundation, the Architect can be found in fictional character Hari Saldon — a mathematician who founded an algorithmic science known as psychohistory, predicted the collapse of the Galactic Empire, and then offered a solution to shorten the millennia of chaos to follow.
Frank Lloyd Wright
Next up, we have Frank Lloyd Wright, who was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. Despite sharing the same last name, Craig and Frank are not related, but they do share the same archetype as Architects.
He [Wright] designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright believed in designing in harmony with humanity and the environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture. This philosophy was exemplified in Fallingwater (1935), which has been called “the best all-time work of American architecture”. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements of the twentieth century, influencing architects worldwide through his works and hundreds of apprentices in his Taliesin Fellowship.
Interestingly, Craig has thousands of patents in the blockchain space himself (under his company nChain). You can find some filed in the United States here. Bitcoin was designed in a very holistic manner, with knowledge applied from multiple fields. And, if proven to be the creator behind Satoshi Nakamoto for the public, will be remembered for being the father of the entire cryptocurrency movement, and spurring many subsequent builders of the next generation.
🐺 The Metal (Iron) Dog
Last, but not least, we have Chinese Astrology. Chinese astrology is based on traditional astronomy and calendars, which flourished during the Han Dynasty (2nd century BC to 2nd century AD), acting as not only a divination system, but also a personality profiling one.
Each year is attributed a particular animal — Pig, Rooster, Ox, Tiger, Monkey, Snake, Dragon, Rat, Rabbit, Horse, Goat and Dog — and are split into 12-year cycles. Each of these 12-year cycles are placed under 5 other cycles for the 5 Elements: Earth, Metal, Water, Fire, Wood.
According to Wikipedia, Craig Wright was born October 1970, placing him under the Chinese Year of the Metal Dog.
When you start reading about the characteristics that define the “Metal Dog”, it is eerily similar to what is experienced of Craig Wright in person.
“The Dog believes only in his own strength, ability, persistently and stubbornly goes to the goal set for himself. He is ready to perform it at any cost, so it’s better not to get in his way. If something does not work for him, he is ready to “bite” himself.”
Craig Wright is known for his support of law and order. Despite many BTC supporters touting a narrative of Bitcoin being above the law (e.g. “code is law”), this directive is what often puts many BTC supporters off — making them think Craig is not Satoshi Nakamoto because of the contrast to Satoshi’s mythology.
“This Dog is unshakable in her convictions; he is very disapproving of any violation of the law. Always very principled, noble and merciful. He will devote himself to unselfish service until the end of his life, if he finds something worthy of such devotion. And yet, if he is hurt, he can be ruthless and pursue his enemies until his death. At the same time, he is a loving and tender person at home, who, however, sometimes takes too much care of his loved ones.”
Those last few lines are important to note. If you recall, I mentioned how people can often think of Creators or Architects as walking contradictions or outright geniuses — very rarely anything in-between. The line “if he is hurt, he can be ruthless and pursue his enemies until death.” Well, just take a look at this:
Now, without context, you may look at this and think it to be quite dramatic. But this is the language of Metal Dog types, especially when they’ve been threatened. So If you’d like to learn more about the Metal Dog personality, which may give you a bit more insight into Craig Wright, just click on the link below:
Conclusion
All in all, it’s interesting to see just how predictable we can be (based on archetypes), and also how irrational (when we don’t have such insights to lean on). By using all the profiling systems above, you can start to understand why individuals like Craig Wright are the way that they are — especially as the Architect or Creator.
You can start to push aside personal biases when attempting to make judgements, and see the world more through their eyes, if you’re wanting to understand them better.
And although we’re all prone to personal biases, taking the time to see the bigger picture may just help you piece together your own truth. And when it comes to the “brand” of Satoshi Nakamoto, hopefully you can start to see why truth is often stranger than fiction. Just remember that Wizard of Oz moment, “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” Because you might just discover that the “great wizard” is just an average-looking old man, but one who actually has the wisdom to show you your own follies in believing that there was a great, grand wizard to begin with.
As Shakespeare once said, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women mere players.”
What you seek is already within you.
