硅谷发明家：吸血成金

因为她准备发明一项工程设备
'cause she was inventing an engineering device,
但不是医学
but not medicine.
她与颇有权势的年长的人结盟
She aligned herself with very powerful older men
他们似乎为某种魅力所折服
who seemed to succumb to a certain charm, and...
而这些有权力的人能够影响
those powerful men could influence people
政♥府♥工作人员
in the government,
影响国防部
influence the Department of Defense.
当我问起 这是否跟得到政♥府♥合同有关的时候
When I asked her was this all about getting government contracts,
她顾左右而言他
she danced around my questions about that.
我们所做的每一件事
Everything that we're doing
都可能会跟我们为军方所做的事相关
may go into certain work we do for the military,
所以我们其实不能留记录
which we really couldn't put on the record.
当然 非正式的说 我们在为军方
Well, off the record, we were doing some work
做某种工作 所以我们只能在不录音的情况下谈谈
for the military, which we can talk about off the record.
为什么那不能记录呢
Why would that be off the record?
总的来说 我们对这些事的规矩就是
You know, generally, our philosophy on these things is
有谈论的目的时才会去谈论这个事
talk about it if there's a purpose to talking about it,
然后就
and there just- -
那么你能对于你所持的
So, could you say anything about
军方合同说点什么吗
the military contracts you have? I mean...
不能
No.
我在某种程度会让你感到内疚的
When you- - I'm going to make you feel guilty at some point.
你已经做到了 你还蛮擅长的
You already have. You're good at it too.
在对话中 Elizabeth表示
In conversations, Elizabeth suggested
她确实有军方合同
that she had contracts with the military.
在一份模拟的市场材料中
In a mock- up of marketing materials,
Theranos生造了一份Mattis将军的引述
Theranos invented a quote from General Mattis
关于在作战区在受伤的士兵身上
about a battle plan to use Edisons
使用爱迪生的作战方案
on wounded soldiers in combat zones,
但这件事从未发生
but this never happened.
在允许Theranos在士兵身上使用机器之前
Before permitting Theranos to use the machines on soldiers,
五角大楼官员们想要自己先测试一下
Pentagon officials wanted to run their own tests,
但Elizabeth拒绝了
but Elizabeth declined.
她对于控制机器的展示
She had a policy of controlling demonstrations
和严格防护爱迪生样机的使用权
and tightly guarding access
是有相关政策的
to the Edison prototypes.
我不断的给他们施压
I pressed them
可是还是不允许我看 最后
repeatedly, and I wasn't allowed, and finally,
我坚持要求 我需要看到机器
I persisted in asking. "I need to see the machine."
她才对我说
And she said to me,
"那好吧 我们可以让你看
"All right, we'll let you see the machine,
可你必须同意 不对机器做出描述"
but you have to agree not to describe the machine."
那是在楼下
It was downstairs,
是你从透明玻璃的办公室里看不到的一个区域
in an area you couldn't see from all the glassed offices.
实验室是一个很大的 迷宫一样的地方
The lab is a large, labyrinthian place
化学家和技术员来来去去
bustling with chemists and technicians,
还陈列着一排排的机器
and housing rows of machines,
每一个都可以被单人很容易的搬动
each easy for a single person to lift,
里面放着乘有血液的容器
in which the container of blood is placed.
机器里到底有什么
What exactly happens in the machine
被当做国♥家♥机♥密♥
is treated as a state secret,
Holmes对其中过程的描述
and Holmes's description of the process
却模糊得有点滑稽
was comically vague.
是这样一个化学过程
A chemistry is performed,
发生一次化学反应
so a chemical reaction occurs
从样品的化学相互做用中
and generates a signal
生成一个信♥号♥♥
from the chemical interaction with the sample,
然后再传导出一个结果
which is then translated into a result...
"然后由认证的实验室员工进行审查"
"Which is then reviewed by certified personnel."
引用结束 她还补充说要归功于 我引述她
End quote. She added that thanks to, quote...
"微型化
Miniaturization
相关联的自动化使得我们能够
"and associated automation that we're able to...
处理这些微小的样品"
handle these tiny samples.
好吧
All right, so...
有谁发表意见吗 Sunny
Comments? Sunny?
那个 我只想对于Elizabeth刚才的
So, I just want to expand a little bit
评论做一点展开
on a comment that Elizabeth made.
你们知道 我们是一个很保守的公♥司♥
You know, we are a very conservative company
因为我们认为
because we think
应该先做事 再发表言论
that you should get things done before you talk about them.
对吧 这是我们创造的文化
Right? And that's the culture we have created.
所以我想让你们全都记住
So, I just want all of you to remember
我们每天来这儿工作
that when we come to work every day that we carry
我们每一天把使命感都要铭记于心
that sense of mission in your hearts every single day...
Sunny在上世纪90年代末期
Sunny was very successful
曾成功任职于一家科技公♥司♥
in the late '90s with a tech company
公♥司♥后来被高价卖♥♥出
that sold for a lot of money.
对我而言 他有点像Mark Cuban
He seemed kind of like a Mark Cuban character, potentially, to me,
某种程度上 他在正确的时间出现在正确的地方
in some ways, where he was at the right place, the right time.
赚了很多钱
Made a lot of money.
他是软件和IT方面的专家
His expertise was software and IT.
我们所做的事是很非常艰难的
What we are doing is really, really difficult
因为我们是要与整个医学界对抗
because we're going against an entire system
医学界不相信早期预防是有可能的
that doesn't believe that prevention is possible.
我总是觉得Sunny在做生意
I always felt like Sunny was making a deal, you know?
他懂技术 但也只是能推销的水平
Like, he knew the technology, but just enough to sell it.
对他而言 这是他的另一个全垒打
To him, this was another home run that he was going to hit.
他49岁 她30岁
He was 49 and she was 30,
但是她却是在这段关系中处于主导地位
but she was the dominant figure in that relationship.
当他谈论起她时
And when he talked about her,
口吻很恭敬
he talked about her in a very deferential way,
好比她是天才
that she was kind of a genius.
当他谈论起Elizabeth
When he spoke about Elizabeth,
他真的很虔诚
he was really... reverential.
"Elizabeth是我们时代中最重要的发明家"
"Elizabeth is the most important inventor of our times."
我认为Sunny把她敬仰为他永远不能
You know, I think Sunny saw her as this iconic figure that
成为的偶像
he could never be,
所以他在她身上发现了他前进的车轮
and so he, I think, found this vehicle for him to advance himself in her,
她也同意
and, you know, she was on board for it, too.
他们在帕洛阿尔托的公♥寓♥里同居
She lived with him at some condo in Palo Alto.
我觉得这背后
I thought that there was definitely
一定有故事
something going on behind the scenes there.
他们一起离开
They certainly would leave together,
在相近的时间来上班
they'd come in at similar times.
他们总是在交谈
They're always talking to each other,
面谈 在线聊 会议上谈话
offline, online, in meetings,
会议后继续聊 他们很亲近
outside of meetings. They were very close.
Elizabeth和Sunny经常
It wasn't uncommon for Elizabeth and Sunny
一起去硅谷机场
to go to the Silicon Valley airport
参加一些会议
and go off to some meeting.
他们要去推销爱迪生
They were going to go sell this thing,
达成交易
go make a deal.
他们并没有告知投资者二人之间的关系
Without disclosing their romantic relationship to investors,
Elizabeth和Sunny一起飞去给客户做演示
Elizabeth and Sunny flew off together to corporate presentations,
兜售爱迪生的潜在雏形
touting the potential of the Edison prototypes.
Walgrrens爱上了他们的推销
One company, Walgreens, loved the pitch.
在这个2010版的PowerPoint
In this 2010 PowerPoint,
Theranos展示了早期版本的爱迪生
Theranos showcased an early version of Edison,
一个便携的血液检测仪
a portable blood testing machine
可以部署在全世界的药店
that could be deployed in pharmacies all over the world.
Theranos扬言
Theranos boasted the device could,
"爱迪生可以淘汰人们对实验室的需求"
"eliminate the need for a lab,"
几分钟内可以运行最多200个检测
by doing up to 200 tests in minutes
只需在指尖的毛细血管里采样
from a finger- prick drop of capillary blood.
这不是真的 但是Walgreens曾签了合同
It wasn't true then, but once Walgreens signed a contract,
Theranos很艰难地实现这一点
Theranos struggled to make it true, constantly changing
不停地改变机器的颜色 外形和组织结构
the machine's color, shape, and mechanics.
奇怪的是 Walgreens从来没有
Strangely, Walgreens never looked
看过这个魔盒的内部
inside any version of the magic box
去核实爱迪生是否能做到Theranos承诺的那样
to see if it could deliver what Theranos promised.