March 2011

Dr. Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science is a marvelous book, exposing all the ways we can be duped into accepting health and medical advice that have no roots in reality.

In his chapter on pharmaceutical companies and drug trials, Goldacre describes the many funky ways data can be monkeyed with. One of those ways is to divert our attention towards “surrogate results”.

Heart Faker

Using one of Goldacre’s examples, let’s say you have a heart condition. Your ultimate goal (and hopefully your doctor’s) will be to reduce your risk of heart attack.

There’s a new pill on the market, it does a whiz-bang job of lowering cholesterol, and it’s been shown to do so in trial after trial. Sounds great, but there’s just one problem: it’s never been shown to actually reduce the risk of heart attacks.

In other words, people who take the medication typically see a drop in their cholesterol levels, but they just go on having heart attacks at the same rate as those who never swallowed a single pill. Not quite what they and you were after.

It’s a bit of a bait-and-switch. If you buy what they’re selling you, instead of getting the results you came for, you’ll get the flavor of those results (lower cholesterol) without all the pesky real-life benefits (fewer heart attacks). You’ll be settling for “surrogate results”.

Life Imitates Medicine

How often do we do this with other aspects of our life?

We want happiness, but we end up chasing unaware things that merely have the flavor of happiness.

The famous and wealthy might be as unhappy as the general population, but they live in mansions, travel the globe, and get their pictures taken with other famous and wealthy people. We want some of that, too, because it looks so good in the papers.

But the palatial estates, jet set living, and flashing bulbs could just be surrogates for real joy, and poor ones at that.

Are We After What We’re Getting?

Are we earning degrees when what we really want is knowledge?

Are we setting sales records while longing for a sense of purpose?

Are we working up a sweat to win awards, receive accolades, and garner admiration when all we really want is the intimacy of a soft caress from someone who loves us no matter how full we keep our trophy shelves?

Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not against making money and I’m not above feeling a little warm and fuzzy when people appreciate my work.

I just want to keep my eyes on the things I prize the most, the results I’m really after, and I don’t want to settle for surrogates. I’ll assume you’re much the same.

Let’s do our best to live lives that truly fill us up, and accept no additives, divertivives (yes, that’s a made up word), or substitutes.

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Some of us are standing on the shore. We’re looking out across the big, blue ocean, longing to set sail, aching to get our journey started, but not sure where to begin.

A Shore Thing

Some of our friends have already launched. We can see them on the horizon, their sails whipping in the wind and their bows plowing through the waves.

And we want to join them. We want to be out there, splashing about, getting wet, moving forward, exploring, discovering, making our way.

But we haven’t got a ship to sail. It’s not that there aren’t any available. We simply haven’t chose one.

The Sails Pitch

Many have tried to convince us of the merits of their ship, the one they’ve chosen for their own particular voyage. And some are quite persuasive, so much so that at times they can make us believe that theirs is the only ship worth boarding.

“What,” one might say while hauling in their nets, “you have a job? Poor thing. You really must try entrepreneurSHIP.”

“Oh no,” cries out another while holding up their captain’s log, “still working with your hands? Haven’t you heard of scholarSHIP?”

“Hey you,” calls yet one more from aboard a crowded deck, “you seem to be lost and alone and confused. Why not join our fellowSHIP? We have all the answers you seek.”

But we’re not so sure about all that they’re so certain about, so we continue to stand with our doubts in the sand, wondering what it will take for us to finally begin our own journey.

Well, I’m not sure. I don’t have all the answers, but that’s not a bad thing to admit.

Going Below the Deck

Not having the answers means we have to ask questions, questions of ourself, questions that ignore the assertions being fed to us, questions that focus instead on the answers that lie within.

We have to choose our own ships. We may have to build them. We may even have to amass or construct entire fleets of them, because there are many kinds of ships to choose from and one might not be enough.

I’ve already mentioned entrepreneurSHIP, scholarSHIP, and fellowSHIP, but you know that there are others. FriendSHIP, craftsmanSHIP, citizenSHIP, leaderSHIP, showmanSHIP, and partnerSHIP are others that come to mind.

And there are some we can do well to avoid, like censorSHIP, dictatorSHIP, one-upmanSHIP.

Which ship do you wish to set sail on? Don’t be afraid. Pick the one that’s calling to you and forget the ones others are calling you to. It’s your voyage.

Now please excuse me. There’s a good wind blowing.

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