the cake is a lie

Etymology
From the 2007 video game Portal, in which a self-aware computer, GLaDOS, lures the player into participating in dangerous experiments with the promise of cake. As the game progresses, the player discovers graffiti left by Doug Rattman, the only known scientist alive since GLaDOS killed all the others with neurotoxin, with the graffiti including the warning "the cake is a lie".

Phrase

 * 1)  The end being pursued is unattainable or misguided; the reward promised is false.
 * 2) * 2012, James Margeson, "The quiet assault on public education", The Sphinx (University of Liverpool), March 2012, page 9:
 * The assumption that a degree will vastly improve future earnings is increasingly misleading. By their very nature high paid jobs are exclusive and limited in number. "The cake is a lie."
 * The assumption that a degree will vastly improve future earnings is increasingly misleading. By their very nature high paid jobs are exclusive and limited in number. "The cake is a lie."