None of these things points or alludes to Mike being Satoshi by themselves. But I do think that all these things together do paint a possible connection. Mike denied being Satoshi when I emailed him and also didnt seem to care that I would post these things online attempting to connect him to Satoshi.
Interesting story, and taken together, one could posit that there is a connection between the two. However, it doesn't add up for me.
The biggest issue is that Satoshi was a cypherpunk. He posted the whitepaper on a crypto mailing list. I think that Hearn thought Bitcoin was really cool as a payment system, but never really appreciated the underlying security premises of a decentralized Bitcoin. As DooMAD mentioned, I also think Satoshi would have been staunchly opposed to Hearn's blacklisting/redlisting ideas.
Satoshi was not a cypherpunk. Even Gavin thought he was not a cryptographer, see here:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/satoshi-was-not-a-cryptographer-says-gavin-andresenBeing a cypherpunk does not always mean you are a cryptographer, just
as being a cryptographer does not always mean you are a cypherpunk.
When Satoshi provided his solution to one of the cypherpunk puzzles,
that alone proves that he is aligned with cypherpunk ideals, and grants
him the title of being a "cypherpunk". Why solve a puzzle, if the outcome
brings the destruction and disillusionment of your own beliefs.
Here was a Satoshi belief of his solution type, at the time:
"
... we can win a major battle in the arms race and gain a new territory
of freedom for several years. Governments are good at cutting off the
heads of a centrally controlled networks like Napster, but pure P2P networks
like Gnutella and Tor seem to be holding their own. " This Satoshi quote
is self evident as to what his ideals likely aligned to: financial choice.
Satoshi may have been a coder and activist more than an experienced
cryptographer, but that does not negate his cypherpunk nature. It is
clear that the creation of a Bitcoin like system, if successful, would
bring about changes to the outside world by providing the people a
choice that was forbidden to exist by the powers that be.
Update: To add my two bits as the OP theory, I agree with DooMAD's
reasoning above. Redlists are something that can not be ignored. It is
an insidious threat to Bitcoin and to the freedom our network provides.
Edit: added Update