Similarities Between The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley vs Fyre Film

HBO recently released a film about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos which was once valued at 9 Billion dollars and employed 800 people. The film has many similarities to the previously released Fyre Film on Netflix and Fyre Fraud on Hulu. Where as a breakdown between the characteristics and traits of Elizabeth Holmes vs Billy Mcfarland may be well suited.

Similarities Between Elizabeth Holmes & Billy Mcfarland: 

Billy & Elizabeth both gained excessive publicity & tried to use legal tactics to suppress and stop bloggers, journalists, and employees from disparaging them.

Both are sociopaths who believed in their mission despite seeing it was becoming a sinking ship.

Both used excessive lies and deception to extract more money from investors. ,

They believed even after the sinking of their ships that they still had a viable product and chance to redeem themselves.

Neither had any issues bold face lying about what they had done and felt no remorse.

The Theranos Story vs. Fyre Festival 

Both stories are built on charisma and entrepreneurship which I initially felt both characters had the fake it till you make it mentality but by the end of both films you tend to think "Okay they are just out to scam people and don't really care." It is possible the Holmes expected her Edison machine to be able to run all the tests and just had a lack of scientific knowledge. She wasn't going to be humbled by her staff and apply the law of physics that some tests couldn't currently be run in that capacity at the time. While it is a Silicon Valley way of thinking to do the impossible in this case it just wasn't viable.

Fyre Festival used social media to build up their image and gain exposure for their event. Theranos gained VC and then once it was rolling garnered glitz and glamour as a self made female entrepreneur. Both seemed like they were on the way up but it was all smoke and mirrors. The Theranos Edison machine wasn't able to accurately run tests and they only booked a few hundred thousand dollars of revenue but claimed it had made a billion dollars (dont quote me on the exact figure). Billy Mcfarland did the same bringing in <$100,000 in revenue and claiming to have brought in millions for their platform.

The amount of similarities between the two films are great and I suggest watching both stories (all 3 films if you can).

 
 

What Bill Gates Learned in 2018

Always an interesting read to help discover what the future holds and how one of the most successful people of our time thinks.

Nuclear Energy

Some spotlight points from his latest year in review includes the fact that Nuclear power is something that we should expect to see grow and for reasons having to do with it's low impact on the environment if we can properly use technology to avoid catastraophic damage that comes as the main headline risk of using Nuclear energy. A deal in China that would have greatly reduced global warming was scrapped due to global trade tensions.

Gene Editing

With Artificial Intelligence gaining the majority of headlines we should look at the risks associated with Gene Editing and the problems that may come as a result of this. While there are many positives.

Stopping Epidemics 

Were close to eradicating the polio virus with 29 cases last year vs 22 the year before. The two cases happened in war torn areas of Afgahnistan and Pakistan but once we eradicate this we will have a resounding celebration knowing that one of many killer epidemics is gone. The Spanish flu killed over 50 million people and the next flu could do the same so that's where our worries should be focused not on terrorist attacks, climate change, and an asteroid hitting us. 

Reference: https://www.gatesnotes.com/About-Bill-Gates/Year-in-Review-2018