Too Good To Be True

If ever there were a cautionary tale for those who launch tech startups, it would be the story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. 

Holmes was the entrepreneur who convinced everyone from venture capitalists to Larry Ellison to Walgreens to politically influential people like George Shultz and Henry Kissinger that her idea for a quick. one-drop, blood-testing technology was worth billions when the reality is it never even worked.

Holmes is now serving time in prison for fraud. Her story is available as a highly entertaining eight-part series on Hulu called “The Dropout.”

Elizabeth Meriwether created the series, which is based on a podcast of the same name as well as other material. Amanda Seyfried provides an inspired performance as Holmes, and there is a star-studded cast including William H. Macy, Sam Waterston, Michaela Watkins, Alan Ruck, Naveen Andrews, Josh Pais and many more.

Particularly notable are the performances of Camryn Mi-Young Kim and Dylan Minnette as two young, idealistic employees of Theranos who ultimately helped bring the company down.

But it is Seyfried who carries the series, capturing the enigmatic complexities of Holmes’s multi-faceted character, as part-naive visionary, part-lying hypester, part-seductress, part-manipulator who created a myth based on her own identity as a young woman challenging the tech-bro culture of Silicon Valley.

One of my favorite parts of the series is when Seyfried re-trains herself to sound more like a self-confident man than a valley girl. It’s a convincing rendition of an exercise I witnessed many times in Silicon Valley, where men and women alike tried to reinvent themselves and become something they weren’t in order to sell investors, customers and the press on their far-fetched, disruptive ideas.

I worked as an employee or a consultant for quite a few startups from 1995 onward. Although I never witnessed outright fraud like that engineered by Holmes, I did see plenty of the greed, betrayals and human distortions so accurately portrayed in this series.

I also saw a lot of hard work, sincerity, and commitment to try and make the world a better place.

But as we move into yet another tech-driven boom, this time powered by AI, it is worth considering the Theranos case study as a reminder that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t.

HEADLINES:

• World Central Kitchen halts operations in Gaza after strike kills staff (BBC)

• This isn't the first time the U.S. and Israel have disagreed over Gaza (NPR)

• Ukraine struck one of Russia's biggest refineries with a drone 800 miles from the front lines in Ukraine and said it had inflicted significant damage on a military target. (Reuters)

• ‘No help here’: Florida abortion ruling leaves women with few options (WP)

• Biden and Xi speak for first time since November summit amid global tensions (CNN)

• Trump Completely Melts Down Over New Gag Order in Hush Money Trial (TNR)

• Trump keeps pushing the limits of the gag order in his hush-money case. It could land him in jail, legal experts say. (Business Insider)

• The Church of Trump: How He’s Infusing Christianity Into His Movement (NYT)

• Many more people have died after police used ‘less-lethal’ force than the public knows. (AP)

• Plants Really Do 'Scream'. We've Simply Never Heard It Until Now. (ScienceAlert)

• Retirement crisis looms as Americans struggle to save (CNN)

• Yahoo is acquiring Instagram co-founders’ AI-powered news startup Artifact (TechCrunch)

• The new science of death: ‘There’s something happening in the brain that makes no sense’ (Guardian)

• White House directs NASA to create time standard for the moon (Reuters)

• How One Tech Skeptic Decided A.I. Might Benefit the Middle Class (NYT)

• The AI Perils Buried in the Fine Print (Hollywood Reporter)

• OpenAI drops login requirements for ChatGPT’s free version (ArsTechnica)

• Is this AI? See if you can spot the technology in your everyday life. (WP)

• Sculpture Of Stereotypical Italian Chef Proof Of Pizzeria’s High Standard Of Excellence (The Onion)If ever there were a cautionary tale for those who launch tech startups, it would be the story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. 

  Holmes was the entrepreneur who convinced everyone from venture capitalists to Larry Ellison to Walgreens to politically influential people like George Shultz and Henry Kissinger that her idea for a quick. one-drop, blood-testing technology was worth billions when the reality is it never even worked.

  Holmes is now serving time in prison for fraud. Her story is available as a highly entertaining eight-part series on Hulu called “The Dropout.”

  Elizabeth Meriwether created the series, which is based on a podcast of the same name as well as other material. Amanda Seyfried provides an inspired performance as Holmes, and there is a star-studded cast including William H. Macy, Sam Waterston, Michaela Watkins, Alan Ruck, Naveen Andrews, Josh Pais and many more.

  Particularly notable are the performances of Camryn Mi-Young Kim and Dylan Minnette as two young, idealistic employees of Theranos who ultimately helped bring the company down.

  But it is Seyfried who carries the series, capturing the enigmatic complexities of Holmes’s multi-faceted character, as part-naive visionary, part-lying hypester, part-seductress, part-manipulator who created a myth based on her own identity as a young woman challenging the tech-bro culture of Silicon Valley.

  One of my favorite parts of the series is when Seyfried re-trains herself to sound more like a self-confident man than a valley girl. It’s a convincing rendition of an exercise I witnessed many times in Silicon Valley, where men and women alike tried to reinvent themselves and become something they weren’t in order to sell investors, customers and the press on their far-fetched, disruptive ideas.

  I worked as an employee or a consultant for quite a few startups from 1995 onward. Although I never witnessed outright fraud like that engineered by Holmes, I did see plenty of the greed, betrayals and human distortions so accurately portrayed in this series.

  I also saw a lot of hard work, sincerity, and commitment to try and make the world a better place.

  But as we move into yet another tech-driven boom, this time powered by AI, it is worth considering the Theranos case study as a reminder that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t.

  HEADLINES:

  • World Central Kitchen halts operations in Gaza after strike kills staff (BBC)

  • This isn't the first time the U.S. and Israel have disagreed over Gaza (NPR)

  • Ukraine struck one of Russia's biggest refineries with a drone 800 miles from the front lines in Ukraine and said it had inflicted significant damage on a military target. (Reuters)

  • ‘No help here’: Florida abortion ruling leaves women with few options (WP)

  • Biden and Xi speak for first time since November summit amid global tensions (CNN)

  • Trump Completely Melts Down Over New Gag Order in Hush Money Trial (TNR)

  • Trump keeps pushing the limits of the gag order in his hush-money case. It could land him in jail, legal experts say. (Business Insider)

  • The Church of Trump: How He’s Infusing Christianity Into His Movement (NYT)

  • Many more people have died after police used ‘less-lethal’ force than the public knows. (AP)

  • Plants Really Do 'Scream'. We've Simply Never Heard It Until Now. (ScienceAlert)

  • Retirement crisis looms as Americans struggle to save (CNN)

  • Yahoo is acquiring Instagram co-founders’ AI-powered news startup Artifact (TechCrunch)

  • The new science of death: ‘There’s something happening in the brain that makes no sense’ (Guardian)

  • White House directs NASA to create time standard for the moon (Reuters)

  • How One Tech Skeptic Decided A.I. Might Benefit the Middle Class (NYT)

  • The AI Perils Buried in the Fine Print (Hollywood Reporter)

  • OpenAI drops login requirements for ChatGPT’s free version (ArsTechnica)

  • Is this AI? See if you can spot the technology in your everyday life. (WP)

  • Sculpture Of Stereotypical Italian Chef Proof Of Pizzeria’s High Standard Of Excellence (The Onion)