If the identity of the individual were confirmed it would perhaps, at a minimum, elevate their engineer/thinker status such that other ideas and pieces of work attributed to them may receive more attention (and maybe help) from many others who would perhaps not otherwise have happened upon them.

This is interesting and something I hadn't thought about. Now I'm more curious who Satoshi is and why he or she or they have decided to remain anonymous. Thanks! You might want to post your idea somewhere else too, like the Bitcoin reddit or forum, since probably not many people will get to read it here.