Tuesday, September 05, 2017
Constants and variables 82, War On edition
Sanest article I've read in a long time!
A discussion of new approaches to cancer. Essentially reverses the standard variable and constant. Previously we considered the mutations to be the variable, so we tried to eliminate them. But in fact the mutations are the constant. DNA is always getting messed up from one cause or another. Controlling the total result requires strengthening the feedback loops, making the environment more unfriendly to cancer.
Beautiful comparison with drugs and crime:
To give you an analogy: If we think about fighting drug dealing in the inner city, the sort of first approach that someone might want to take is just go in there and arrest all the drug dealers. The first thing that you’re going to find is you’re never going to arrest them all. The ones that you leave are going to be more aggressive and nasty, maybe even smarter. So you’re not going to fix the problem. Instead, you might want a more long-term strategy where you also created better schools, jobs, and so forth. In other words, if you address the environment that was leading to the drug dealing, you would probably have a much more stable solution to the problem.Researchers have realized that War On Cancer leaves the smarter and sneakier cells in place, just as War On Drugs leaves the smart gang bosses in place, ready to hire more juvies. Unsurprising. All WarOns have the same purpose. Make the problem worse so the WarOn can exponentially increase its budget.
Labels: Constants and Variables
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