I’m not much of a believer in “Great Man” theories, especially in science. There are a lot of smart, hardworking scientists out there. Someone has to be first to make a discovery, but they rarely finish the race more than a step or two ahead of their competitors. If not Newton, then Liebniz. If not Darwin, then Wallace. Even today, priority for many big advances (like CRISPR) are fought out in court precisely because those advances emerged from a confluence of new concepts and technologies and it’s hard to tell just who had that big idea first.
John Carreyou is an immensely talented and hardworking journalist. Call him THE best journalist in the world, if you like. But I assure you that the second and third best journalists are just as good.
Carreyou deserves great credit for seeing through the hype and asking questions that no one else was asking. I’m thrilled to see him rewarded both reputationally and financially – that’s how the world should work. Truth-telling should be honored.
But even if Carreyou had been reporting on the Kardashians instead, Theranos would still be in a death spiral today. They still would not have made a convincing demonstration of their tech; more employees with a conscience would have sought out a journalist; the FDA and CLIA would still be taking regulatory action. Some other smart and hardworking journalist would have taken note and started digging, and once they did, the same outcome would ensue.
Carreyou acted as a catalyst – he sped up the reaction, but didn’t alter the final equilibrium.