Live data from Hacker News

Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

ftc.gov

31–40 of 259 posts

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#31
post #15

Dual n-back, coffee, LSD. All things people swear make you smarter. Coffee has proven to make brain work better. But it's only temporary. LSD...well, I've never tried it, but people swear by it. Not sure if scientists would be allowed to try it on test cases.

Look for CIA's MK-Ultra, here: http://www.mcgilldaily.com/2012/09/mk-ultraviolence/ And here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Ewen_Cameron

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#32

Great article on this trend of investors/entrepreneurs with no scientific background thinking they can get into the space and "shake things up": Silicon Valley is confusing pseudo-science with innovation [0] > I don’t think all the VC firms that are moving into the space know what they’re doing — so I think you only need a couple of nasty failures to get them to pull back. Take Pathway Genomics, for instance, which w…

> In the next couple of years, we're probably going to see companies like Nootrobox, Stemcentrx, and Theranos go belly up, after which investor interest in the healthcare industry will dry up, just as it did in the energy industry after the late 2000s.

More likely, what will happen is the the BS artists that smell money will go away (and their financiers) leaving the field again to those that were active there before a few high profile exits brought the smell of blood.

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#33

I just wanted to share my thoughts, which are simply: "Thank God!" I've been working on a startup: http://synaptitude.me/ (demo is old) Essentially, we can do some of what Luminosity claims (and have independent studies to prove it). Every time someone goes: "Oh it's just like Lumosity" I have to go through and explain the difference. My wife has a degree in neuroscience and I minored in BioE, and we both just HATE L…

Sounds great, there's obviously a huge market for this.

Just don't be seduced by the dark side. Be honest with how accurate your tools are. The results will speak for themselves.

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#34

Great article on this trend of investors/entrepreneurs with no scientific background thinking they can get into the space and "shake things up": Silicon Valley is confusing pseudo-science with innovation [0] > I don’t think all the VC firms that are moving into the space know what they’re doing — so I think you only need a couple of nasty failures to get them to pull back. Take Pathway Genomics, for instance, which w…

> In the next couple of years, we're probably going to see companies like Nootrobox, Stemcentrx, and Theranos go belly up, after which investor interest in the healthcare industry will dry up, just as it did in the energy industry after the late 2000s. More likely, what will happen is the the BS artists that smell money will go away (and their financiers) leaving the field again to those that were active there before…

Good point - I edited that sentence to say 'SV investor' instead. There were, are, and always will be people outside of the technobubble innovating in fields like healthcare and energy, they just won't get plastered on magazine covers and fêted by the Twitterati.

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#35

I just wanted to share my thoughts, which are simply: "Thank God!" I've been working on a startup: http://synaptitude.me/ (demo is old) Essentially, we can do some of what Luminosity claims (and have independent studies to prove it). Every time someone goes: "Oh it's just like Lumosity" I have to go through and explain the difference. My wife has a degree in neuroscience and I minored in BioE, and we both just HATE L…

It's one thing to say that there are independent studies that demonstrate the validity of your interventions, but it's another to say that there is a current ecology of research and researchers that support your intervention.

Can you make that stronger claim? Is there a review article that we can Google?

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#36
post #6

>The order also imposes a $50 million judgment against Lumos Labs, which will be suspended due to its financial condition after the company pays $2 million to the Commission. So does that mean after paying this fine, Lumosity is in financial trouble?

It means they don't have $50m. I'd say that shouldn't matter, we don't give the poor a discount on parking tickets either (actually, we usually make them more expensive).

I have seen a proposal to make the cost of tickets based on value of the car. The thinking is that a person with an Audi is not at all disturbed by paying a $20 parking fine, so it isn't an incentive. It's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure how hard it would be to implement.

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#37

I just wanted to share my thoughts, which are simply: "Thank God!" I've been working on a startup: http://synaptitude.me/ (demo is old) Essentially, we can do some of what Luminosity claims (and have independent studies to prove it). Every time someone goes: "Oh it's just like Lumosity" I have to go through and explain the difference. My wife has a degree in neuroscience and I minored in BioE, and we both just HATE L…

The worst that can happen to a good small company is that some overhyped and overfunded 'start-up' enters the field and spoils the trust built slowly and over a long time between the consumers and the suppliers of goods and services.

This is unfortunately not rare at all and the 'hotter' a market seems the more of these BS artists will enter. In the end you have the same product and the same relationship with your customers but you're going to end up spending a lot of time differentiating yourself from the snake oil peddlers and the damage they can do is very real.

Good companies have gone under in the wake of the scandals triggered by the fakers. Playing a long game while your field is being torn up by people playing a short game is extremely frustrating.

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#38
post #19
post #15

Dual n-back, coffee, LSD. All things people swear make you smarter. Coffee has proven to make brain work better. But it's only temporary. LSD...well, I've never tried it, but people swear by it. Not sure if scientists would be allowed to try it on test cases.

anyone who says lsd makes you smarter is already stupid.

To understand the experience of LSD, I recommend "The New Alchemy" by Alan Watts.

http://www.psychedelic-library.org/alchemy.htm

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#40

Great article on this trend of investors/entrepreneurs with no scientific background thinking they can get into the space and "shake things up": Silicon Valley is confusing pseudo-science with innovation [0] > I don’t think all the VC firms that are moving into the space know what they’re doing — so I think you only need a couple of nasty failures to get them to pull back. Take Pathway Genomics, for instance, which w…

If pseudo-science sells, it feels like innovation! There is like all this new money discovered in new places where it wasn't before. Innovation, right in my pockets!
Post reply on HN