The moral of the tale is . . .

Referring to the Elizabeth Holmes verdict of guilty on four of eleven charges. To Atrios, the moral isdon ' t rip off rich people, which does indeed apply to the verdictper se. That was also the mistake made by Bernie Madoff and Bernie Ebbers as well. White collar criminals who rip off people of modest means (viz. Donald J. Trump) don ' t merit convictions. Andrew Gelman (whose blog I recommend in general although he tends to be quite long-winded) tried to relate the Theranos fraud to academic fraud, back in 2018, the occasion being a reading of John Carreyrou ' s expose " Bad Blood. " I agree there are some parallels. Holmes is not a scientist, but she purported to have achieved a scientific, or at least technological breakthrough. Her marks were investors rather than academic journal reviewers, editors and readers. Actually in academic fraud the real marks are tenure and promotion committee members. But the ways people get away with it are similar. As Gelman writes:  I ’m interested in the social processes by which obviously ridiculous statements just sit there, unchallenged and even actively supported, for years, by people who really should know better. Part of this is the way that liars violate norms—we expect scientists to tell the truth, so a lie can stand a long time before it is fully checked—part of it is wishful thinking, and part of it seems to be an attitude by people who are already overcommitted to a bad idea to protect their investment, if neces...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs