More on failure

I watched a show on trans-orbital lobotomy and Dr. Freeman, the man who worked most of his career to pioneer/popularize it.

The show disturbed me for 3 reasons:

1. There were pictures of people with metal spikes in their eyes who were having the procedure.

2. Anything that screws up the brain makes me nervous.

3. People who get them and their family members didn't always get the chance to give permission.

4. The procedure fell out of favor with the larger medical community in almost all cases and Dr. Freeman spent the last years of his life searching out his old patients and trying to see how they did. I don't know how I would react if, during my lifetime, all my work was rejected. It would make me really sad. I would not have the courage to abandon my life's work in the face of compelling evidence that my well-intentioned work was actually quite deleterious. That I lack this courage makes me worried about if I'll ever attempt anything of import.