Scams, spectacular failures, and billions burned! This special greatest hits episode of History's Greatest Idiots explores three tech disasters that prove innovation and incompetence make the perfect recipe for catastrophe.

First up: Ruja Ignatova, the "Crypto Queen" who convinced investors OneCoin was the next Bitcoin whilst running one of history's largest Ponzi schemes. She vanished in 2017 with $4 billion of other people's money, becoming one of the FBI's Most Wanted. Her brother went to prison. Her victims lost everything. She's probably on a yacht somewhere laughing at all of us.

Then we explore Y2K, the Millennium Bug that convinced the entire world civilization would collapse at midnight on 1st January 2000. Governments spent $300-600 billion preparing for disaster. Russia put nuclear forces on high alert. People stockpiled generators, tinned food, and guns (sales spiked 700% in some US areas). Airlines grounded flights. Survivalists moved to remote cabins. What actually happened? Some slot machines in Delaware stopped working. That's it. The most expensive non-event in human history.

Finally, Sam Altman and OpenAI: the Stanford dropout who convinced the world he was building God whilst burning billions and destroying the planet. From nonprofit to capped profit to whatever OpenAI is now. ChatGPT's explosive growth to 100 million users in two months. The environmental catastrophe (training GPT-3 used enough energy to power 358 UK homes for a year). The brain drain to Anthropic as safety researchers fled. The board firing Sam for lying, 500 employees threatening to quit, and Sam returning five days later more powerful than ever. OpenAI projected to lose $14 billion in 2026 and potentially go bankrupt by mid-2027. Tech stocks making up 40% of the market. Microsoft losing $357 billion in a single day in January 2026. The AI bubble that might crash harder than dot-com.

From crypto fraud to millennium panic to AI hype, these tech disasters prove that when greed meets fear meets overconfidence, billions of dollars disappear and nobody learns anything.

Join Lev, Derek and special guest The History Obscura Podcast, as they count down the greatest hits of technology's most spectacular failures.

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Artist: Sarah Chey

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