{"id":60833,"date":"2021-12-08T16:17:04","date_gmt":"2021-12-08T21:17:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=60833"},"modified":"2021-12-08T16:17:04","modified_gmt":"2021-12-08T21:17:04","slug":"the-theranos-trial-shows-why-we-should-be-suspicious-of-nuclear-fusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=60833","title":{"rendered":"The Theranos Trial Shows Why We Should Be Suspicious of Nuclear Fusion"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"article__header\">\n<h3 class=\"article__hed\"><a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/technology\/2021\/12\/nuclear-fusion-climate-change-theranos.html?fbclid=IwAR2atP95RJ7P2rT6C3aN0mq5QXQftNjQIxZGS_kHHXa_73HqLBcLeU4tVqU\">The Theranos Trial Shows Why We Should Be Suspicious of Nuclear Fusion<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article__top-image\">\n<figure class=\"image image--center \" data-uri=\"slate.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/ckwv1byef0018386e5a4sfyxv@published\" data-editable=\"imageInfo\">\n<div class=\"lazyload-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyloaded\" src=\"https:\/\/compote.slate.com\/images\/1daf6986-7186-41f7-b850-a74ba3ae57a1.jpeg?width=780&amp;height=520&amp;rect=2462x1641&amp;offset=204x0\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1440px)780px,\n(min-width: 1024px)709px,\n(min-width: 768px)620px,\n100vw\" srcset=\"https:\/\/compote.slate.com\/images\/1daf6986-7186-41f7-b850-a74ba3ae57a1.jpeg?width=320&amp;rect=2462x1641&amp;offset=204x0 320w,\nhttps:\/\/compote.slate.com\/images\/1daf6986-7186-41f7-b850-a74ba3ae57a1.jpeg?width=480&amp;rect=2462x1641&amp;offset=204x0 480w,\nhttps:\/\/compote.slate.com\/images\/1daf6986-7186-41f7-b850-a74ba3ae57a1.jpeg?width=600&amp;rect=2462x1641&amp;offset=204x0 600w,\nhttps:\/\/compote.slate.com\/images\/1daf6986-7186-41f7-b850-a74ba3ae57a1.jpeg?width=840&amp;rect=2462x1641&amp;offset=204x0 840w,\nhttps:\/\/compote.slate.com\/images\/1daf6986-7186-41f7-b850-a74ba3ae57a1.jpeg?width=960&amp;rect=2462x1641&amp;offset=204x0 960w,\nhttps:\/\/compote.slate.com\/images\/1daf6986-7186-41f7-b850-a74ba3ae57a1.jpeg?width=1280&amp;rect=2462x1641&amp;offset=204x0 1280w,\nhttps:\/\/compote.slate.com\/images\/1daf6986-7186-41f7-b850-a74ba3ae57a1.jpeg?width=1440&amp;rect=2462x1641&amp;offset=204x0 1440w,\nhttps:\/\/compote.slate.com\/images\/1daf6986-7186-41f7-b850-a74ba3ae57a1.jpeg?width=1600&amp;rect=2462x1641&amp;offset=204x0 1600w,\nhttps:\/\/compote.slate.com\/images\/1daf6986-7186-41f7-b850-a74ba3ae57a1.jpeg?width=1920&amp;rect=2462x1641&amp;offset=204x0 1920w,\nhttps:\/\/compote.slate.com\/images\/1daf6986-7186-41f7-b850-a74ba3ae57a1.jpeg?width=2200&amp;rect=2462x1641&amp;offset=204x0 2200w\" alt=\"A woman in a mask.\" width=\"780\" height=\"520\" \/><\/div><figcaption class=\"image__meta\"><span class=\"image__caption\">Former Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes.<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"image__credit\">Amy Osborne\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article__share-sidebar share-sidebar\"><\/div>\n<section class=\"article__body\">\n<div class=\"article__podcast-subscribe\">The Theranos story is an epic tale of folly with lots of twists and turns, but it\u2019s by no means unique. At the very same moment the play-by-play of the Elizabeth Holmes trial sprawls across the drama section of your daily paper, the pages of the business section are filled with adulatory copy regarding other science-techy startups. Inevitably, some of them will end up with financial losses that are even bigger, thanks to technology that is even shakier, business models that are more delusional, and exaggerations that are nearly as bold as anything associated with Holmes\u2019 fiction-enhanced blood-testing company. These \u201cstartups\u201d all promise limitless clean energy: power from nuclear fusion and a rapid transformation of our energy supply away from fossil fuels.<\/div>\n<div class=\"article__content\">\n<p class=\"slate-paragraph slate-graf\" data-uri=\"slate.com\/_components\/slate-paragraph\/instances\/ckwv12vw5000k386e9wjtlyiu@published\" data-word-count=\"142\">At this point, nobody\u2019s claiming that there\u2019s fraud in the fusion sector, though the exaggerated claims coming from the companies and the media are rapidly becoming as detached from reality as a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2020\/09\/29\/917747123\/you-literally-cant-believe-the-facts-tucker-carlson-tells-you-so-say-fox-s-lawye\">Tucker Carlson monologue<\/a>. Read the papers and it seems like a fusion power plant is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/futurism.com\/the-byte\/fusion-power-imminent\">imminent<\/a>\u2014we\u2019re just a few years away from our first fusion generator and then to widespread commercialization. After all, that\u2019s what the fusion companies themselves are saying. Tokamak Energy:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.power-technology.com\/features\/future-of-nuclear-fusion\/\">A working power plant connected to the grid by 2030<\/a>. General Fusion:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/generalfusion.com\/2021\/06\/general-fusion-to-build-its-fusion-demonstration-plant-in-the-uk-at-the-ukaea-culham-campus\/\">Demonstration power plant beginning operations in 2025<\/a>. Helion Energy:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/interestingengineering.com\/helion-energy-has-promised-viable-fusion-energy-by-2024-after-raising-500-million\">We\u2019ll do it in 2024<\/a>. First Light Fusion: Yeah,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eenewseurope.com\/news\/oxford-startup-promises-fusion-gain-2024\">2024<\/a>. Zap Energy:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesswire.com\/news\/home\/20210519005548\/en\/Zap-Energy-Raises-27.5-Million-to-Advance-Reactor-Technology\">2023<\/a>\u2014so there! But if we\u2019ve learned anything from the Theranos debacle, it\u2019s that we can\u2019t take any company\u2019s claim at face value when \u201cfake it till you make it\u201d is a standard corporate motto.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Theranos Trial Shows Why We Should Be Suspicious of Nuclear Fusion Former Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes.\u00a0Amy Osborne\/Getty Images The Theranos story is an epic tale of folly with lots of twists and turns, but it\u2019s by no means unique. At the very same moment the play-by-play of the Elizabeth Holmes trial sprawls [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[32264,5933,655,16214,32265],"class_list":["post-60833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy-2","category-liberty","tag-charles-seife","tag-fusion","tag-propaganda","tag-slate","tag-theranos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60833"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60833\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60834,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60833\/revisions\/60834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}