The Molecule of More

THE MOLECULE OF MORE

THE CHEMISTRY OF FRAUD

I know your noble nature hates the thought of treachery

or fraud. But what a glorious prize is victory!

—Sophocles, Philoctetes

I like to win, but more than anything, I can’t stand this

idea of losing. Because to me, losing means death.

—Lance Armstrong

In 1999, after surviving a battle with advanced cancer, Lance Armstrong

won his first Tour de France. A reporter for the New York Times described

him in a way that would come to be typical in the following years: “a man

of strong will and focus” who “dominated the Tour.” He went on to win

seven consecutive Tour de France races, dominating not only that famous

race, but the sport itself.

Armstrong was legendary for his determination. He preferred to bike

with a headwind because it made the course harder and gave him more

opportunities to outlast the competition. Author Juliet Macur described

Armstrong’s determination with this story: “[A tree] was once on the other

side of [his] property, 50 yards west of his house. Armstrong wanted it at

the front steps. The transplantation cost $200,000. His close friends joke

that Armstrong, who is agnostic, engineered the project to prove he didn’t

need God to move heaven and earth.”

“I think I would probably go crazy if I was 35 or 40 and didn’t have

some competition in my life,” Armstrong said.

In 2012, the world-champion cyclist was stripped of all seven

of his Tour de France titles when it was revealed that he had used

performance-enhancing drugs. Why would this legendary athlete cheat, this

man of steely determination who never gave up, even in the face of cancer?

Oddly enough, he may have cheated because he was so successful.

Dopamine doesn’t come equipped with a conscience. Rather, it is a
source of cunning fed by desire. When it’s revved up, it suppresses