RespireRx Pharmaceuticals Inc (RSPI)

[neuroinv]

<<More than for any of us, corx's failure defines Coleman's life>>

Enemem, I know that your intentions were entirely humane with this, but in a way, it illustrates the Cortex-centric thinking that can be misleading.

Jim Coleman worked for Cortex from age 59 to 71. I don't think he would agree that Cortex defines his life. Thirty years at Pharmacia and Upjohn, a family, served in the Marine Corps....His reputation in the industry is, so far as I have ever heard from anyone, positive. As is the case for most people on this BB, his investment agenda with Cortex failed (my losses approach Davey's), but while painful, that doesn't define who he is.

Similarly, just as your comment suggests that the arc of Coleman's life achievements is largely constructed around the outcome for Cortex Pharmaceuticals, Cortex-centric thinking holds that, to some degree, the pharma world revolves around Cortex; that the Cortex portfolio was congruent with what the industry wanted and would invest in; and that the fact that it did not come to fruition reflects a failure to execute on the part of Cortex management.

That is a fairy tale. Some people embrace the fairy tale in spite of the lack of any supporting evidence--a process that Stephen Colbert defines in his parody of 'truthiness'--'truth is what you feel in your gut'. It is a rationalization that is convenient for scapegoating, a short cut to explaining a complicated situation in oversimplistic terms--a way to justify the visceral wish to 'make someone pay.' But that's all that it is.

NP