The Tesla connection seems like nothing more than click bait since it's not related, except maybe gave him connections to be able to raise $450 000 from angel investors.
Come to think of it, how do you test a hangover cure drink? What is your control?
Instead, mix a pinch of sugar and a pinch of salt into a quarter-glass of water. Mix well, drink. You'll rehydrate far better and faster with this than with just water.
This is probably why Gatorade works so much better than just water, but this method is far, far cheaper.
Why does dehydration give a person a headache?
People are more interested in how he got where he is, not the product itself.
Just because it's not FDA approved yet, doesn't mean its garbage. Not to mention the countless harmful and down right useless products that are pushed and approved by the FDA every year.
Tesla connection is important because people have been on an anti-Tesla tear lately, and this paints them in a pretty good light as far as big companies go.
He is being praised for his cautious and systematic approach to building a start-up, versus the rockstar/reckless founder meme that is prevalent these days.
There's no comparative studies, there's no cross-drug studies, there's no major side-effect studies. FDA testing is almost purely Drug vs Placebo.
So if things aren't FDA approved or otherwise are avoiding FDA studies, you need to be cautious with those products.
The reason why so many "harmful" products get past the FDA is due to the lack of testing btw. Its a known problem, but no one wants to make FDA testing harder for some reason. I guess the drug lobby has done a good job at making people distrust the FDA.
For more details, look up "Phase IV Clinical Trials", which are the studies people want to standardize that go above and beyond the FDA minimums. (Including cross-drug interactions, better studies into side-effects, comparative studies, cost-benefit studies, patient-centered surveys, etc. etc. There's a LOT of studies that simply aren't done)
That's the D part of the FDA. The article specifies that he was advised not to call it either of a "cure" or a "drink".
Drinks fall under the FDA's core F responsibility. But he's ordering this drink from a factory that already produces enormous quantities of the same drink for consumption by Koreans. I'm not really worried that drinking it is unsafe, so the dietary supplement branding seems fair.
As to drug testing, doing better than placebo in a trial the FDA will accept is incredibly expensive regardless of how effective your drug is.
It seems that on HN -- and in the startup culture, in general -- this is considered a "hack" and is something to be proud of.
Kinda like how Uber skirting around those pesky laws and lawmakers was seen as clever and inspirational.
My point being we should not rely on government agencies as our source of truth.
Additionally, the misuse (or overuse) of "snake oil" is becoming cliche. This hangover cure may work or it may not. But it certainly isn't snake oil because it has a limited scope of operation. And, until proven otherwise, was created as an honest attempt to alleviate hangover symptoms. Rather than being a callous money grab at the expense of people's health.
ps: the cure for hangover is breakfast
NAC improves the performance of your liver enzymes, helping break down alcohol and lessening alcohol-related liver damage.
Vitamin C helps replenish lost vitamins through alcohol consumption.
Thiamine helps replenish vitamins necessary for energy production in your brain, lessening alcohol-related brain damage. And water. Cuz water.
This combo as you drink or after you've finished consumption will severely reduce any adverse hangover effects. Maybe I should make a hangover drink.
[0] https://medium.com/@researchangover/n-acetyl-cysteine-hangov...
[1] https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh27-2/134-142.htm
http://earlightswindle.com/gloom/2018/06/acetylcysteine-does...
And sleep and plenty of water ;)
I don't like capitalism but I like games, and this guy played the game very well. If we don't like the constraints/rules why are we blaming the people who followed those constraints when establishing their algorithms, especially when culture tells them to do so?
Basically, don't hate the player, hate the game.
(Also let's go ahead and get post scarcity asap please starting to get tired of capitalism)
Why can't I hate both? That's how values work, I don't value his methods, and I don't value the person that chooses the methods I don't value.
I also don't like snake oil, but I don't blame agents for acting in a fit manner.
What you're saying is what's usually said about animals, "don't blame the bear for eating you if it's hungry and you're there". Only difference is that animals are pure instinct, whereas people aren't.