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by quoquoquo 3222 days ago
I think we will see something like that. Theranos was blatant fraud by an individual who came from a family of money, and felt the need to protect the "fragile, young vulnerable women of tech".

Even as Theranos, there were lot of people defending Holmes, and attacking people who were calling her a scammer.

I definitely don't think we are going to see any of that this time.
2 comments
rhizome 3222 days ago
Even as Theranos, there were lot of people defending Holmes, and attacking people who were calling her a scammer

I think that would have happened regardless of who was leading the company, because a lot of people stood to make a lot of money from their success.

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cowsandmilk 3222 days ago
> felt the need to protect the "fragile, young vulnerable women of tech".

I've seen plenty of men with similar frauds in the healthcare space. Theranos just got a lot more attention because it was a young female CEO. So, lots of attention on the upswing, which led to a huge fall. Reading Adam Feuerstein will show you plenty of white men in their 50's pushing similar BS while leading publicly traded companies. And the reporters exposing the BS get attacked constantly by duped investors on Twitter.

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quoquoquo 3222 days ago
It got a lot of attention because of the size of the scam and she came from a place of money which she used to further her goals.

Imagine if this was a non-white male CEO, could you imagine how different public opinions would've been? She got some sort of soft landing because she was white, gender and her family wealth.

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cowsandmilk 3222 days ago
> Imagine if this was a non-white male CEO

Sure, I can imagine. Look at the "Bridge" detox device which is being pushed by a Filipino American male. No randomized, blind clinical trials showing it works, but it is being used all over America in clinics where it is not covered by insurance. I'm guessing you've never heard of this scam, so I would say that public opinion about it is indifference rather than outrage.

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dragonwriter 3222 days ago
Yeah, but public attitudes toward substance abuse treatment vs. “real” medicine are substantially different, in part because the former is widely seen as only needed by moral reprobates.
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