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I haven't read Carreyrou's book, but do you think age and stereotypical gender roles played a part in the swindle? In other words, did the "old powerful men" le
by bumby 5y ago
I haven't read Carreyrou's book, but do you think age and stereotypical gender roles played a part in the swindle? In other words, did the "old powerful men" let their guard down more because she was a young female?
- schnitzelstoat 5y agoCarreyrou's book is really good and I strongly recommend it - it's made clear in the book that a lot of them had family friendship connections to Holmes as well. I imagine this may also have clouded their judgement.
- geophile 5y agoAbsolutely. It is hard for me to believe that Holmes didn't intentionally seek out powerful, influential yet clueless men. The fact that she had connections to them certainly made things simpler. I remember first hearing about Theranos in the New Yorker profile of Holmes. The presence of Schultz, Kissinger and other non-scientist powerful old men struck me as extremely odd at the time. And given her youth and appearance, it is impossible not to speculate about her effect on them, intentional or not. Also, the book made it very clear that Schultz's judgement was clouded by personal feelings. He blew up his relationship with his grandson over his defense of Holmes; the grandson saw what was going on.
- WalterBright 5y agoI would not underestimate the powerful effect of a young, attractive woman flattering an old man.