prolific coder like Szabo
My understanding is that Szabo is not much of a coder.
Also Szabo can't be Satoshi because he is in the public eye of the ecosystem.
Also Szabo doesn't understand game theory well enough, which is why he didn't get it correct with his bit gold proposal.
I have caught Szabo in several technological errors.
Szabo is not smart enough to be Satoshi. (I am not claiming Szabo is stupid, just not genius enough to be Satoshi).
However it is possible that some group created Bitcoin based on careful study of Nash's work, but why did Nash go quiet during the times he did? And why did Nash avoid talking about Bitcoin?
When Bitcoin came about, Nash as the researcher/progenitor of Ideal Money should have wanted to immediately write about it.
But of course he wanted to downplay Bitcoin because:
1. He didn't want to be associated as its possible creator.
2. To make the elite think he was playing along with their plans for Bitcoin.
3. To not alert powerful entities to kill Bitcoin in its infancy.
Szabo can code.
Not a disciplined enough coder to make Bitcoin. I've never seen Szabo write significant code or a large project.
Nash was very disciplined and stuck with projects over a long time frame to refine and complete them. Which is the trait a coder needs. Szabo is a writer and researcher.