[DataDive]

I used to work in life sciences data analysis.

Many times, I met people who genuinely believed they were super close and about to achieve a "huge" breakthrough.

In each case, the scientists themselves, in their minds, were absolutely convinced they were on the brink of unfathomable achievements: curing Alzheimers, or some cancers etc.

Particularly true for the scientists in biomedical startups - they were like Mulder from X-Files; they all wanted (and were desperately eager) to believe. Like Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos, I think she completely believed her own exaggerations and BS - at some point, fact and fiction merge.

Thus I've become extraordinarily skeptical of articles like these.