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| Elizabeth Holmes to seek mental disease/insanity |
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| wilfred:
--- Quote from: SiliconWizard on January 04, 2022, 01:00:32 am ---That is interesting. I'd be curious to see the details. "Conspiring to defraud investors" usually requires making use of one's particular influence, network, credibility, etc, to persuade others to invest (in other words, having some position of power and authority), and as I already mentioned (I know many did not agree), I'm wondering how and where her influence could come from, because to me, she had neither power (at the beginning at least) nor authority, so I'm still very curious how this was determined that she was able to defraud seasoned investors on her own. Not saying she didn't deserve it, eh. Just still really curious about this particular point. I don't doubt she's a bit nuts and maybe "evil" too, but being nuts is usually not enough to gain power, authority and credibility. --- End quote --- She's not nuts. Or evil. She didn't set out to do harm to anyone but she became obsessed and delusional in believing it was possible to run a complete spectrum of hundreds of tests with tiny finger prick samples. The dilutions were introducing errors in test accuracy and the tiny machines were always going to present insurmountable problems with miniaturisation. Maybe she was a bit evil but I don't think she set out to be evil. I think she slid into it and just kept digging. But listening to the podcasts on the trial and reading the book you have to wonder at the secrecy inside Theranos and the unusually tight need-to-know silos where some teams were not allowed to see what others were doing. That is where I start to think the slide into fantasy wasn't accidental and she knew it was a pipe-dream early on. Her authority came from being CEO of a Silicon Valley startup and her influence was bought in the form of very high profile board members who carried substantial gravitas. There's sure to be more to come on appeal. |
| SiliconWizard:
I dunno if she is nuts or evil. But whatever, this is sort of irrelevant. Just a thought - because many have called her evil. And as time was passing by, I admit she was starting to look a bit spooky. --- Quote from: wilfred on January 04, 2022, 01:29:44 am ---Her authority came from being CEO of a Silicon Valley startup and her influence was bought in the form of very high profile board members who carried substantial gravitas. --- End quote --- Well, anyone can be CEO of a Silicon Valley startup these days. Almost everyone also knows that a good 80% of them are bullshit. As to how she was able to "buy" those high-profile board members - and keep them on board, while definitely some things were starting to be questioned along the way - is also a bit of a mystery. But that in itself is not enough, IMO, to give power and credibility. That again is very common. That's almost how all startups are built these days - using a a few PHDs as staff members and a couple professors as board members. This is cool but isn't enough to give a project credibility. At least, it certainly should not. --- Quote from: wilfred on January 04, 2022, 01:29:44 am ---There's sure to be more to come on appeal. --- End quote --- Yep, I'm pretty curious. Because whatever is going to happen, it's going to set a precedent. And if it could drill some sense into some people and future investors, maybe then, something will be gained from it all. If not, it will happen again, and investors will keep injecting loads of cash into pure bullshit startups. Of course this is particularly bad here because it dealt with health, but the point is still a general problem. Then again, for as long as it happens, we'll have stuff to write about in this forum section. =) |
| coppice:
I'm more bothered about the mental state of all the people suckered by such a transparent charlatan. This seems like a classic Emperor's new clothes event. |
| bdunham7:
--- Quote from: wilfred on January 04, 2022, 01:29:44 am ---Maybe she was a bit evil but I don't think she set out to be evil. I think she slid into it and just kept digging. But listening to the podcasts on the trial and reading the book you have to wonder at the secrecy inside Theranos and the unusually tight need-to-know silos where some teams were not allowed to see what others were doing. That is where I start to think the slide into fantasy wasn't accidental and she knew it was a pipe-dream early on. Her authority came from being CEO of a Silicon Valley startup and her influence was bought in the form of very high profile board members who carried substantial gravitas. --- End quote --- The expression is "Fake it until you make it". She didn't make it. It works for certain obstacles, like the financial and practical hurdles Tesla faced, but it doesn't work out when your underlying technology simply can't work, like U-Beam. With Theranos, I'm not sure if the claimed technology can ever be made, but I suspect it can. Essentially her downfall was that she claimed that they already had it working--and sold it to the public--when they didn't. Sort of like 'Full Self Driving'. :) Frankly I'm a bit dismayed that we prosecute these things as investor fraud. I say screw the investors if they aren't diligent. She should have been prosecuted for fraud against medical patients and for that every person in the company who was fully aware of what was going on deserves hanging. IMO. |
| SiliconWizard:
--- Quote from: coppice on January 04, 2022, 05:25:16 pm ---I'm more bothered about the mental state of all the people suckered by such a transparent charlatan. This seems like a classic Emperor's new clothes event. --- End quote --- That's my point all along, yes. Glad at least one person here sees it the same way. As to this happening again, unfortunately, I'm almost certain it's going to. And possibly in health-related startups too, especially since those are booming these days. |
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