Theranos was a good one, too. There was pretty much nothing there, for years, but people so wanted to believe the story. At a time when high tech was seen as producing an endless stream of silly apps that solved problems for hipsters, and mired in very real sexism problems, here comes this young, attractive woman who claimed to be using technology to solve some serious medical problem. Narrative Jackpot! Like the X-files poster, everyone in the press and industry Wanted To Believe! Money poured in, fame, adoration, comparisons with Steve Jobs. Full page photo spreads, lots of smiling, lots of shaking hands. Happy words and excitement. Hype lead to a presumption of success, which lead to more happy talking, which created more hype, leading to more presumption of success, which lead to more happy talking... Finally someone looked behind the curtain and saw there was nothing there. And everyone was disappointed and pretended to be so surprised. There are no UFOs.
Everyone involved are millionaires now and are permanently set for life. They're just going to spend their time now looking for the next narrative to fit and the next thing to take credit for, knowing nobody is going to fact check until they've done the cycle again.
Everyone involved are millionaires now and are permanently set for life. They're just going to spend their time now looking for the next narrative to fit and the next thing to take credit for, knowing nobody is going to fact check until they've done the cycle again.