[ultrahate]

"""Might"""

Give me a break, Theranos is the biggest disgraceful excuse of a company that I've ever even heard of, and I've been reading this dumb board for 5+ years now.

That people aren't 100% dismissive of Theranos is absolutely mind-boggling. The level of corruption, incompetence, and just the poor organization of it all.

Other commenters have also noted that if they aren't doing well on cash, they're pretty much dead anyways.

I want Theranos to crash and burn as loud as humanly possible, so that people might pay attention for two seconds and look at what happens when you refuse to give a shit about the ethics and competence behind your business/startup.

Now, I suspect a lot of Theranos employees at this point are probably just waiting on that last check, but there's probably some poor souls on that list who really wanted to achieve something, and now they're more or less fucked from having to be associated with Theranos. It will be harder for them to find a new job with that black mark, I'm sure poor severance will make it hard for them to bootstrap their own ideas. They are backed into a corner, because of Theranos.

Life in an unethical business can be nasty, brutish and short.

[harigov]

Just out of curiosity, did you reach to this conclusion based on what you read in the news about Theranos or do you have some other extra information? I have no relation whatsoever to Theranos and I am genuinely wondering how someone can have such a strong opinion on a company that they read about in news, which we all know never tells the full story.

[cyberferret]

I am guessing that the strong feelings may be to do with the outcomes of the company's bungling. After all, we are talking about people lives being in the balance here.

The constant sugar coating, avoiding, or plastering over of defective methodologies and processes can elicit these sorts of feelings - especially if the person suspects, or knows of issues that should be brought to light.

Its different say, in the case of a soda manufacturer changing the recipe for their best selling beverage. The faux outrage there is probably an overreaction. But if it is a car/aircraft manufacturer that knowingly builds vehicles with a known defect that can cost human lives? Well, then, I think the outrage is justified. I think Theranos falls into the second category.

[acalderaro]

Wired actually did a fairly good piece on this whole thing. The links within the article link to other Wired articles, but if you keep going back their source articles cite scientific findings, federal investigators and other credible sources.[1]

If the commentor whose comment you're posting to is anything like me, he's probably incredibly mad that such a largescale fraud has happened, but more importantly that someone who represented a new hope in the tech space (Elizabeth Holmes), turned out to be just as scummy as most VC/tech sterotypes.

Theranos had the potential to truly revolutionize blood testing. Not in a super-profitable-startup-tries-to-revolutionize-world kinda way, but in a Tesla success-at-any-cost or Genentech Innovate-or-die way. And Holmes was an unconventional, relate-able, underdog character leading the charge. A lot of us put our faith in her - she would have been one of the best success stories to pass on to our daughters to help inspire them to pursue opportunities in tech. But she abused the opportunity, and it's incredibly heartbreaking. Plus, all of the patients who had been put their faith in Theranos to protect them/their loved ones have been misguided for years now.

What Holmes did is despicable. And she's hiding behind lawyers and money to maintain the charade. It's infuriating.

[1] www.wired.com/2016/05/everything-need-know-theranos-saga-far/

[kqr2]

Rise And Fall Of Theranos In A Biotech Cartoon

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/07/18/48617194...

[ultrahate]

You seem to say this as if people's livelihoods aren't something they'd feel strongly about. I've noticed a certain rhetoric lately wherein Theranos is """just headlines""" but I mean, imagine for a second if YOU were in that situation. It's such a high visibility thing too, I myself am waiting with bated breath for many reasons. Not the least of which being I'd like to hire some of their talent when it explodes, but I think even with that bias, I think my point stands that the situation is in fact much more grave for those involved than the headlines and HN fawning might convey to someone not familiar.

I never said I knew everything about theranos, and anyways I don't care to, but I've been in a situation where my corp was really fucking up and I started to worry about my hirability being affected just by working there. I was only a contractor, but still.

[dang]

HN might be dumb, but please don't make it dumber by posting rage rants. We're hoping for thoughtful discussion here, even about Theranos.

[ultrahate]

If you could outline points of what I've posted that aren't substantial or empirically correct, I'd appreciate it.

Otherwise I might be bold enough to note that it would seem you'd like to influence this discussion (which is well within policy afaik) by whinging about good posts, which obviously is horrendously unethical, so I'm sure you are eager to prevent that misunderstanding. Just trying to clarify