Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

I remember reading many books on how when electricity was invented for decades there were tons of scams which essentially were vaporware hypestorms. Look at Victorian England and the myriad medical scams around electricity.

Same with many chemical discoveries in the 1800s, and with nuclear discoveries in the 1950s.

The snake oil salesmen will always race to some new tech to try and make a quick buck. Partially because the new tech actually does do some interesting things and partially because it's new enough no one can call them on it quite yet.

Even now there are tons of new science and tech in other fields that the general public are more convinced than ever work for health, etc. And at best are hopeful thinking and at worst are massive scams which are straight out hurting millions.



Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: